Charlotte's Secret
by Katrina Kenyon
Summary: Charlotte King has a secret that no one else besides her mother and Big Daddy know. But now Big Daddy's on the verge of dying and the secret will be exposed to all. She'll just have to deal with it. Charlotte/Cooper. Begins during Homeward Bound.
1. Prologue: About Her Secret

Prologue: About Her Secret

Charlotte has a secret. A really well kept secret. There are only three people who know about it: Her son of a bitch father, her addict of a mother and herself. Charlotte's secret was born at home with the help of two private doctors. Her secret was six pounds, three ounces and very healthy. Her secret was a little girl.

Charlotte was in her first year of med. school when she had that drunken one nightstand. She hid her secret well in school and when she came home for summer vacation she made all the plans for the adoption and her home birth. Her parents happily paid whatever amount their daughter needed to keep everything covered up. After all the Kings were a very prominent family and they did have a reputation to protect.

After the birth, the child went to her adoptive family and everything was settled. At least that's what Charlotte thought. Her father, Big Daddy, had different feelings. For a week after the birth of his granddaughter he found himself worrying. The little girl was still a King after all. No matter where she went she would always be family. And he may have not raised his own children right (he admits that perhaps he had been too hard on all of them) but he could raise this child right.

And so he found the adoptive parents or rather parent, for the baby's new parent was a single mother, and gained partial custody. Granted, he had to provide a generous allowance for the mother. In truth he found the adoptive mother unsettling. How could she be so willing to give away her custody of her child, even if it was only partial?

Within a year, he had the mother and his granddaughter who was now called Charlene Smith-King, who he fondly calls Charlie, moved to Monroeville, Alabama. Picking the name was also something he had negotiated. He named her after her mother. Not that Charlotte even knew, but he thought it was nice. Charlie was Charlotte's nickname too.

By the time Charlene reached her fifth birthday, he had full custody of her, but she still lived adoptive mother, who grew more irresponsible as the years went on. Charlene had been added to the family will even though nobody except himself and his wife knew that she was a real King. Oh, and he got rid of the Smith part of her last name when Charlene had to call him to pick her up from school for the third time that week because her mother had forgotten about her. He had money and power and he would do whatever it took to protect his little Charlie.

He gave Charlene the best of everything. He took her to plays, musicals and museums. He sent her to the best private school where she excelled and skipped two grades just like her mother. Charlene King grew to be more and more like her mother every day. Beautiful, smart and oh, so curious about everything. She had her mother's green eyes, silky blonde hair and little upturned nose. It seemed that she had also inherited Charlotte's small stature.

But whatever Charlene was, he adored her. He knew that his time was running up. It was cancer and he needed to be sure that Charlene had someone to take care of her. It seemed only natural that it be Charlotte. So in his will you'll find that full custody has been transferred to a Dr. Charlotte L. King.


	2. Homeward Bound

**Chapter One: Homeward Bound**

Charlotte King could barely function today. How she managed to pack and then put on clothes she'll never know. Big Daddy was dying. It was time for her to go home and say good bye. He was basically gone, she knew that, all that was left was an unconscious body, but she couldn't help the tight feeling in her throat or the tears pooling in her eyes. Her brothers were cowards. They couldn't pull the plug so they were making their baby sister do it for them.

She could do it. She didn't want to, but she could. She was a doctor. Death came with the job. She could handle this.

Now all she had to do was settle some things at her practice and leave for her flight. She got into to the elevator and stood miserably by herself before she was joined a second later by Cooper.

_Great, now my day's perfect._

She didn't look at him, she just stood wallowing in her grief.

"What's your problem," Cooper said from beside her. "You'd think someone died."

"Dying," she said while staring at the floor. "Big Daddy."

Cooper laughed. "Big Daddy? Well that is a screen-name. When you get back on the horse, you really get back on the horse, huh?"

"Cooper-." She could feel tears prickling in the back of her eyes.

"What's killing him? The sex or the cold fish attitude?"

"Big Daddy's my father," she said, and then she stepped off the elevator leaving Cooper to curse himself.

After she talked to Addison and finished talking to her staff at Pacific Wellcare she went to her office to grab the rest of her things. There was a cab waiting outside to take her to the airport.

"Charlotte."

She looked to the doorway and found an apologetic Cooper standing there.

"What do you want," she said with less than her usual flair. "I'm too tired to fight with you Cooper."

"I'm not-." He took a breath and started again. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

She grabbed the last of her bags and then glared at him "There's nothing you can do," she said bitterly. "There's nothing any of us can do. People die every day Coop. It's a natural process. I'm a doctor I've seen it hundreds of times. Now if you'll excuse me." She brushed past him. "I have a cab waiting for me."

0oo0oo0

At the same moment Charlotte was leaving, Charlene King, was sitting in a chair next to Big Daddy who was lying on the bed. Here was the man who had practically raised her. The man who had clued her in on her own heritage. Here he was…dying.

She was a King, a secret, hidden illegitimate King, but a King nonetheless. She had visited the King manor numerous times. Sometimes it was to have dinner with granddaddy and grandma. Sometimes it was to learn new things like how to play the piano and sometimes it was just to learn about her family. She loved hearing stories about her momma, Charlotte King. She had never met the woman, but she loved her anyways.

She held granddaddy's limp hand and watched the various machines he was hooked up to, whirl and beep. It was only a matter of time now.

She heard footsteps approach the room and she tensed. No one knew she was here, expect for her grandma who was so out of it she probably didn't remember. Grandma was an addict, this she knew. She also knew that her momma hated that grandma was an addict and that her momma didn't like her granddaddy. She could tell because her 'uncles', who didn't even know she existed, visited frequently, but her momma didn't.

The first glimpse she had got of Charlotte was two years ago when her granddaddy was diagnosed. Ever since granddaddy had become sick he kept her close, and she was in the house on that day too.

_From a bedroom window she spied Charlotte walking up the pathway to the house. Charlotte looked up in her direction and even though sheer curtains hid her face, she still felt like her momma could see her._

Charlotte didn't visit after that.

The footsteps at the door, that had originally startled her, paused and moved in the other direction. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't worry granddaddy, she'll come."

0oo0oo0

Cooper stood in Charlotte's office, just moments after the blonde rushed out to catch her cab. He knew Charlotte. She would try and deal with it all by herself, but she needed help. She needed him. And he loved her, even if they weren't together, but that could change. Everything was subject to change.

So in a split second he decided to hop aboard a plane and travel halfway across the country to be there for Charlotte. He wasn't even sure if she would let him in, but he had to try. He arrived five hours after Charlotte and had to rent a car that was probably as old as the earth itself and drive up the bumpy roads of Monroeville to Charlotte's house.

He was sweating bullets as he stepped out of the car, if you can even call it that, and looked up at the house. Well, to be exact it was a mansion. Charlotte never told him that she came from money.

Determinedly, he made his way up the path and paused at the front door. There was an ornate brass knocker and a doorbell. He wasn't sure which one he should use, but he had always considered himself an old fashioned kind of guy, so he choose the knocker.

The door opened and Charlotte appeared in front of him, wearing a dark blue dress that reminded him of the country. He sucked in a breath of air. She looked so beautiful, exhausted and miserable, but beautiful all the same.

She opened the door wider and let him in wordlessly. When he looked in her eyes he could see something like relief pass through them.

"Welcome to my house," she added, on an afterthought. He looked around at the elegant foyer, said an awkward hello to what he assumed were her brothers and then waited for Charlotte to say something.

"He's upstairs." She pointed to the staircase behind her.

He followed her silently up the stairs, but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone other than her brothers was watching them. He was probably just being paranoid.

Charlotte led him through a maze of halls before settling in front of one solid oak door. How big was this house anyways? Charlotte stared at the door before putting her hand on the knob. She visibly regained her composure and put on her doctor persona, while he placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her what was supposed to be a reassuring squeeze. She flinched at the contact.

"Sorry," he murmured.

She ignored him and opened the door.

The room was spacious, but he could see nothing but the pale man, hooked up to multiple machines, resting on a large four-poster bed. He watched Charlotte's face crumble as she looked at her dying father.

"He's not even really there," Charlotte said as she led him to a red couch sitting in front of a grand fireplace. He still felt like he was being watched, but he pushed that feeling to the back of his mind.

They sat there and watched Big Daddy for what seemed like hours until Charlotte said, "Why are you here Coop?"

She was staring at him so intensely with her smoldering green eyes that she was making him a little nervous. He glanced at her shyly, "I'm here…for you."

She looked as if she could breathe in those words in and live off of them. Charlotte had found her comfort.


	3. Something Watching Over Us

**Chapter Two: Something Watching Over Us**

It was almost hours after Big Daddy's death and Charlotte was lying on the bed in the guest room staring at the ceiling. She felt numb and was vaguely aware of Cooper lying beside her. He was attempting to cuddle her.

"Don't touch me," she warned.

He obeyed and gave up on trying to get his arms around her. Instead he rolled to his side and propped himself up on his elbow with his head resting in his hand.

She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Being in this house again brought memories back to her. She remembered laughing and playing with her brothers. She remembered her Big Daddy's temper and the way he would always yell at them all. She remembered her mother, drunk and high. She remembered the little baby she had in the room down the hall and she knew instantly that that baby had turned nine, three months ago.

This wasn't helping her. What she really needed was to go to work, treat patients and yell at her staff. At work she was in control of everything. Here, everything controlled her.

"Charlotte?" Cooper said, bringing her out of her reverie.

She opened her eyes in answer, because she didn't have the willpower to do anything more.

"I want to be with-." He started over. "Do you want to be …should we-. Is this?" The things this woman did to him. God, he couldn't even speak right. Cooper shook his head and tried to begin again. He wanted to know if they were together again.

She stopped him. "We shouldn't talk about anything serious here. I'm not in touch with my sensitive feminine side right now, but apparently you are," she mocked. "Cool it for a bit, will ya?"

"You have such a way with words," he murmured. "No wonder why I fell in love with you." His face fell when he realized what he had revealed. "I wish my sensitive feminine side would shut up," he mumbled, while burying his head in his pillow.

Charlotte rolled over to her side this time and observed him. She was too numb with her own grief to properly respond so she stayed silent, which only worried Cooper more. After a few moments hesitation, she gently tousled his hair before rolling on her back again and staring at the ceiling.

Cooper understood that they were ignoring his statement altogether. He knew it was way too much for her to take in anyways.

"The funeral," he started again.

"Already taken care of."

Silence fell on them. She preferred it, he dreaded it. She closed her eyes once more and willed herself to sleep. She would do anything to be able to escape this hell. How could Big Daddy be dead?

She felt Cooper move from the bed, but didn't bother to see where he went.

"Charlotte?"

She groaned again. Apparently he hadn't left the room.

"What Coop," she said irritably.

"Do you get the feeling that you're being watched?"

She almost laughed aloud at this. "What's wrong with you?"

"I don't know. I just feel like something's been watching us ever since I got here."

She thought on his words for a moment and a memory she thought had been lost forever surfaced. Two years back when Big Daddy was first diagnosed with cancer, she could have sworn someone was watching her from a window on the second floor. Maybe Cooper wasn't crazy.

"It's an old house," she offered.

Now she really couldn't fall asleep. She turned on her side again and found Cooper staring out the window. He seemed troubled.

"I've never been to a funeral before," he admitted.

"Never?"

"Never."

"You'll be fine," she said softly.

He shrugged his shoulders, his back still to her. "I like working with kids, because it's like seeing the beginning of things. You never know what they'll grow up to be. They give me hope for the future." But funerals were not the future. They were the end and Cooper didn't like being so close to the end. He became a doctor so he could prevent it. "You have nieces," he casually brought up. After the pregnancy scare he always wondered what Charlotte would be like with kids.

She smiled faintly. "Five. Landry's girls are three, six and eight and Duke's girls are ten and fourteen. I don't see them much," she added.

"You'll have to introduce me to them later."

She had planned on minimal interaction with her family, but it was impossible to keep Cooper away from kids. "Fine."

"Are those stables over there," he said while pointing out the window. The King property had vast amount of land. There were rolling green hills and pastures, woods to the west of the house and a creek bisecting the entire property.

"Yeah, they are. You ride?"

He shook his head no. "I'm afraid."

She gave him an incredulous look. "Of horses?"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"They make me feel small," he said simply.

That she understood. That was a good reason to fear them.

"Are you okay," he finally asked her.

"What do you think," she snapped. She knew they had been dancing around that question.

"It's okay Charlotte. It's just us. You don't have to hold back."

"I'm not holding back anything," she insisted.

"I'm not stupid Charlotte, I know you." He paused and then turned away from the window to meet her haunted green eyes. "Let me hold you."

"Why are you such a sap?"

"If you let me hold you, I'll tell you a secret," he tempted. And then for a hook, line and sinker affect he added, "About Violet."

She couldn't resist now and what harm would it do if she let him cuddle her. "It better be good," she grumbled. She hoped it was something she could use against the smart-mouthed, Cooper hogging therapist.

Cooper grinned at her and hurried to the bed. Her body molded perfectly into his and she felt safer and more relaxed in his arms. It wasn't so bad, letting people be close, she concluded.

"You're holding me, now what's the secret," she demanded.

He chuckled at her impatience and she could feel it rumbling through his body."Violet's pregnant," he announced. "And she doesn't know who the father is."

"She never struck me as the mothering type."

"You're not going to say anything about not knowing who the father is."

"Maybe later." To be honest she just wasn't in the mood to mock or ridicule anyone. And how could she, when she didn't know the identity of her baby's father either.

"You should know that Sheldon is one of the candidates," he informed her.

"She just had to involve my practice in her drama. Great."

"It wasn't intentional."

"Whatever. Now hush up, I'm tired."

0oo0oo0

Charlene was holed up in the attic for the moment. It was a nice hiding place and it had a lot of spare furniture stored up there including a bed. Granted the bed was not terribly comfortable, but beggars can't be choosers.

She went to the attic immediately after granddaddy was taken off of life support and was currently listening to the grieving that was going on down below.

After awhile she snuck back downstairs to spy on the rest of the King family. Her momma and the man she was with had taken refuge in one of the many guest rooms and hadn't been seen since. Her uncles were out back solemnly sipping their beers and staring off into the distance. Her cousins were scattered around the house crying or not crying. She didn't bother too much with them. She skipped checking in on her grandma, too afraid of what she would find. She knew the rest of the extended King family were grouped in various hotels around Monroeville.

Time progressed and somewhere around midnight she became hungry. She figured the kitchen would be empty at this time and crept down two flights of stairs before making her way to the kitchen, with its shiny chrome appliances and forest green marble countertops.

She made herself a sandwich, turned off the lights and then ate her sandwich in the dark. If someone did come down, they wouldn't see her. She wondered if she should come out of hiding soon. She wanted to let everyone know that she existed, but granddaddy never told her what to do after he died.

A few weeks ago when he was conscious and coherent granddaddy had told her that everything was taken care of. She wasn't sure what he had planned, but he said that she would finally get to be a full-fledged King.

After thinking about him, she realized that he wasn't there anymore and that he would never be back. It hurt her inside and she wished she could hug someone besides the teddy bear in the attic. But she wouldn't cry. She was brave.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte woke up a little after midnight still wrapped in Cooper's arms. She was a little amazed that she had slept that long and she was also a little hungry. A trip to the kitchen was in order.

Very carefully, she extricated herself from Cooper. He grunted at her absence and blindly reached out for her, before settling back down. She almost smiled at that, the fact that he missed her even in his sleep.

She stopped at the top of the stairs and listened. The house was silent and she was glad for it. As she approached the kitchen she heard the scarping of a chair against the floor and then nothing.

_Is someone down here?_

She flicked the lights on and found the kitchen to be empty. Empty, except for the half eaten sandwich sitting on the table.

_Someone was here._

She decided it must have been one of her nieces and proceeded to search through the kitchen cabinets. Someone had recently stocked the kitchen. The housekeeper was always one step ahead of everyone. She would have never remembered to go grocery shopping for the family. As she moved from the second to third she heard a noise behind her. It sounded like someone was running and very quietly at that.

Cooper may have been right about someone watching them.


	4. A Chance Meeting

**Chapter Three: A Chance Meeting**

It was the morning after Big Daddy's death and the King family was rushing around getting the funeral plans together. There would be a ceremony at St. Joseph's cathedral later that afternoon, where only family and close friends of the deceased were invited.

Charlie wanted desperately to go, but since nobody knew she existed, there was a small problem. She was sitting on the bed that had held her granddaddy previously with her head resting in her small hands. Her feet didn't reach the floor just yet, but to be reasonable she was only nine and small for her age.

Charlie had spent all of this morning watching the preparations being made. Her adoptive mother, who had recently taken to drinking every night, and to be honest, every day, hadn't even bothered to check up on her. A while ago granddaddy had stopped giving her mother an allowance and the woman had been very bitter about it. Maybe this was the reason.

She kept a close eye on her momma and the man, now called Cooper. He loved her momma, she could tell, and she was pretty sure her momma loved him back. Cooper was pretty nice for a grown up. He had been brave and did what Charlotte couldn't. He had shut down the life support, effectively ending her granddaddy's lingering existence.

Now, she tried not to cry. Her granddaddy didn't like it and her momma hadn't cried at all since he died.

Still, the tears fell. So much for being brave.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was watching people scurry around on her lawn. Some Kings were arriving from hotels and a group of caterers were carrying enough food to feed in army into her house. The funeral preparations made it all so real. Big Daddy was really gone. She used to think he was indestructible.

"Charlotte," Cooper said behind her.

She turned away from the window in the guest room. "Hey," she whispered.

"You can cry Charlotte. It's okay," he said.

She refused to. He had said the same thing to her yesterday and she was still dry-eyed. She turned and he opened up his arms for her. Somewhat reluctantly, she stepped into his embrace and allowed herself to relax against him. She let out a little sigh.

"Can you go tell Landry that he needs to make sure the flowers arrive on time?" She could do it herself, but she needed an excuse to have a little alone time. Cooper nodded and went to find her brother.

She watched him leave, before opening the door and leaving the room herself. Something besides Big Daddy's death was disrupting the household. She felt like something was watching her from the shadows. Last night in the kitchen had proved it.

Or maybe she was being paranoid and Cooper's words were just getting to her.

Or maybe not.

Charlotte crept silently down the hall back to Big Daddy's bedroom. As she twisted the doorknob she could hear something moving around inside the room.

_What was that?_

She stepped into the room a little unnerved, which was ridiculous because Charlotte King was not superstitious.

"Is someone in here?" She called out in the seemingly empty room. Across the room she spied the door to the closet, cracked open just a bit. She tip-toed over and peered through the crack. She could see clothes hanging in there and underneath those clothes she spotted a pair of small feet. Someone was hiding in there. She let out s sigh of relief. It must be one of her nieces.

She walked up to the closet. "Are you one of Landry's kids?"

No answer.

"Honey, we ain't palyin' hide-an-seek."

She sighed after she got no response. _Someone really needs to keep an eye on the little rugrats._

She opened the closet door and pushed aside the clothes to reveal a small hunched over figure, with a curtain of silky blonde hair hiding the little girl's face.

Charlotte frowned, crouching down in front of the child. "Well you're not one of Landry's or Duke's." She reached out and affectionately patted the girl's head. "But you're certainly a King." With all the extended family running around her house, who knew?

0oo0oo0

Charlie froze in horror as her momma kneeled down in front of her. She tried to keep her face hidden. "Well you're not one of Landry's or Duke's, but you're certainly a King," she heard her momma say.

She felt a hand try to push her hair out of her face. She had dreamt about this moment, about meeting her momma, but it wasn't like this. It was more like a fairytale version, where her mother had been a beautiful queen and she was the long lost princess. The queen had never meant to give the princess up. It was all a horrible accident.

But Charlie knew that her separation from Charlotte was no accident and life wasn't a fairytale. She raised her head up slowly and looked up at green eyes that were identical to her own.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte gasped and pulled away from the child in front of her. She had only seen this little girl once before and that was the day she was born, but somehow she knew instantly that this was his daughter.

"How?" She said. The child didn't answer her. She was frozen with that shocked expression on her cute face.

"What's your name?" This seemed to do the trick. The little girl moved closer to her so that their knees were touching.

"C-charlene King," the little girl stammered. "But granddaddy calls me Charlie."

"Big Daddy called you that?" She was a little confused. How did a little girl she gave up for adoption years ago end up here and referring to Big Daddy as Granddaddy. This didn't make any sense. And why was her last name King. How did she not know about this?

The girl nodded yes to her question and then lowered her head.

"Do you know who I am?" She said softly.

"Momma," Charlene whispered without looking up.

At the perfectly wrong moment Cooper walked into the room oblivious to what was happening, but confused about why Charlotte was sitting in the closet.

"The flowers that you ordered are already at the church, but additional arrangements are arriving from others." He stopped talking when he realized that she wasn't paying attention at all. "What are you doing in there?"

Charlotte ignored his question, but the little girl in front of her panicked and bolted from the room.

"Charlene, wait!" She got up to follow her, but Cooper grabbed her hand.

"Who was that," he asked.

"Cooper, move! I have to get her." She pushed past him and ran out the room. She didn't know which way Charlene went, so she went downstairs and started searching in the first room she came across. Cooper eventually came down and stopped her.

"Charlotte," he said calmly, while pulling her away from the table she was looking under. "Tell me what's wrong."

She pushed him out of her way. "I have to find her."

"Find who? Who was that girl? Is she family?"

"Coop she's…" This was hard to say. "She's my daughter." She bit her lip and waited for his reaction.

"D-daughter?" He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "You have a daughter?" He turned away from her and left the room.

She followed after him, hot on his heels. He didn't get to be mad at her without hearing the story first. She knew he was heading for the guest room, which meant he wanted a private place to talk.

She shut the door behind her and took a seat on the bed.

"How come I don't know about her," he shot at her. "Does she live with her dad or something?"

"You don't know about her because I gave her up for adoption the day she was born."

"Oh," he said, no longer angry. He dropped down on the bed next to her.

"I didn't know she was here. I don't know how she got here or why she's here, but she is and she knows who I am." She stopped talking and stared out the window. "She got so…so big."

"So her dad," Cooper began.

"Was a one nightstand," she finished for him.

He nodded. He just needed to be sure that this guy wouldn't interfere in any way.

"She knows Big Daddy, so he must have had something to do with her appearance. Her last name is King. That has to mean something," she rationalized. "Did he adopt her?"

"Without you knowing?" Cooper asked dubiously.

"You don't know Big Daddy," she said defensively. "And after I moved out and became a doctor I didn't really keep in touch." She strode over to the door and walked out without looking back. She intended to have a talk with her mother. Though she wasn't sure how much good that would do her.

Her mother had taken refuge in the study, with bottles of various alcoholic substances surrounding her. There were some empties on the floor surrounding the cherry wood desk, where her mother was seated.

"Momma?"

Her mother looked at her with unfocused eyes and tried to figure out who it was speaking to her. It was morning and her mother was already drunk. She was only lucky the woman wasn't high too. After a few awkward moments her mother finally realized who she was.

"Charlotte, da-rrling," her mother slurred. "When did you get here?"

"Yesterday momma."

"Hmm."

"Momma, why is my daughter here? Big Daddy musta been involved in this somehow."

Her mother perked up at the mention of Charlene's name. "Your baby? She's just a little angel. Best thing you ever did honey."

Never mind that she was a successful doctor with her own practice. "Why is she here?" She coaxed.

"Charlotte," her mother whined. "Can we do this later? My head is killin' me."

"Momma," she protested.

"No darling, I need some peace and quiet, some time to mourn or did you forget that your father's dead?"

Now she remembered why she never came home. "I didn't forget," she said before leaving.

The visit was conformation enough that Big Daddy had something to do with Charlene being and the fact the her mother knew her daughter well enough to call the girl an angel made her wonder just how long Charlene had been in the house.

She began to search the house again, methodically looking through each room. Somewhere along the way Cooper found her again and followed behind her silently. He didn't say anything, but he could tell that she was upset.

Finally she turned and acknowledged him. "I've checked every damn room in the house and I still can't find her."

"Do you have an attic?"

She turned to Cooper and looked at him like he was a genius. She willingly grabbed his hand and led him to the hidden staircase on the second floor. She would never admit it to anyone but the attic kind of scared her. It was dark and dusty and when she was little her brothers told her there were monsters hiding up there.

She placed her hand on the old brass doorknob of the attic door and paused. "Stay here," she told Cooper.

"Sure," he answered. Whatever she wanted, he would do.

_Here goes nothing._


	5. What a Wonderful Day For a Funeral

** Just to let you know, this is the last chapter that will take place in Monroeville, Alabama. All the rest will take place in LA.**

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Chapter Four: What a Wonderful Day for a Funeral

About an hour ago Charlie had met her momma in person for the first time in her life. She was hiding in the attic now, buried beneath the dusty comforter that covered the old bed. Because of the shock of meeting Charlotte and the loss of her granddaddy, she was now crying.

She thought about going back downstairs and finding her momma, but she had always been painfully shy about meeting new people. Instead she clutched her teddy bear closer to her and curled up into a little ball. She wished granddaddy were here to make her laugh or even just to tell her that everything was going to be okay.

Just then she heard voices at the attic door and she pulled the covers over her head in an attempt to hide.

0oo0oo0

_Here goes nothing._

Charlotte took a deep breath, opened the door and entered the attic. It was just as she remembered: Old pieces of mismatched furniture, boxes of unwanted items and dust everywhere. There was a single circular window that let in enough light to make everything in the room visible.

Just under the window, pushed against the wall was an old queen-sized bed covered with a dusty red velvet comforter. She could see a small shaking lump underneath the comforter as she made her way to the bed and seated herself on the edge.

"Charlene?" She gently prodded the lump under the blanket. The lump moved farther away from her and she couldn't help but smile. Her daughter was awfully cute. When she tried to remove the cover, but she found that she couldn't.

"Alright, if you're not going to come out I'm just going to stay here until you do." She settled herself fully of the bed and turned on her side so that she could watch the lump. She didn't have to wait long because after a few minutes a little head peeped out from under the covers and glanced at her shyly.

Charlotte smiled, what she hoped was a warm and welcoming smile. She hadn't smiled much after Cooper broke up with her so she wasn't so sure, but it seemed to have some effect because her little girl smiled back at her.

"Hi there," she said softly. Despite how harsh and mean she can come off as, Charlotte King has always had a soft spot for kids. And truth be told she wouldn't mind having another if it was with the right man.

"Hi," Charlene answered back as she fully uncovered herself.

It was at this point that Charlotte finally got a good look at the kid and she saw wet tear tracks on Charlene's cheeks. She reached out and brushed them away gently with her fingertips.

"I miss Big Daddy too," she whispered to her child. "How 'bout we go downstairs? It's dusty up here."

"Okay."

They walked together, silently, side-by-side, out of the attic. Cooper was waiting outside still. Charlotte could see him study Charlene the moment they walked out. She knew instantly that he had slipped into pediatrician mode.

She realized then that introductions were in order. "Charlene, this is Dr. Cooper Freedman, my…" She paused a moment. Technically they were still broken up and yes, Cooper was here for her, but that didn't mean everything was could go back to normal. Could it? "My friend," she finished.

Personally, Cooper did not like being referred to as just a friend and he let a frown show his disapproval. Charlotte arched an eyebrow at this.

Charlene on the other hand, promptly stuck out her hand and said, "Pleased to meet you Dr. Freedman."

"It's nice to meet you too," he said while putting her small hand in his and shaking it. "You are very polite."

Charlene smiled. "Thank you."

"Well, why don't we move this party downstairs," Charlotte interrupted. She looked down at her child. "We should probably talk."

Charlene shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. "Um, it's almost time for…"

"Big Daddy's funeral," she said matter-of-factly. She cringed after saying that.

"Charlotte!" Cooper said, a little outraged at her insensitivity.

Charlotte hadn't meant to be so blunt about it, but she never had to be careful about what she said before. She usually just spoke her mind, barking out whatever scathing comment she wanted. She could see the little girl's lip tremble and she knew that she was the cause of whatever came after. She felt ashamed now.

Charlene didn't want to cry in front of them, but a single tear slide down her cheek, quickly followed by another.

Charlotte panicked. "Wait, don't cry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean..." She gave up and drew the little girl into her arms for hug. Charlotte, herself was a little stiff and uncomfortable, but as soon as Charlene relaxed in her arms, she felt herself relaxing too.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was putting on her black dress for the funeral. Charlene had disappeared after the hug, but she didn't chase after her. She wasn't sure if she should have. Clearly she was out of her element, but she couldn't deny how good it felt to be able to comfort the child.

She decided that Charlene was perfect. She had barely spent ten minutes with the girl, but she saw how sweet and shy and polite the child was and it made the ice around her heart melt.

She finished slipping on the dress and reached behind her to attempt zipping it up. She wasn't surprised when she felt another hand bat hers away and zip it up for her.

"Char, you've got to be nicer next time," Cooper said behind her. "She's just a kid."

"I know that," she snapped. "I'm not like you. I'm not good with kids. I'm not good at the socializing thing."

Cooper chuckled. "I know you're not, but try pretending that you are."

"Right," she said dubiously.

Cooper walked around to her front and studied her carefully. He could see pain and grief and sadness swirling around in her green eyes. He wanted to make everything better for her.

"I'd like to give her a once over," he said, talking about Charlene. "She's a little too thin for my liking."

Charlotte nodded her consent. He studied her a little longer and she ducked her head down, ashamed at how much she was revealing. She had to get her emotions in check.

Cooper smiled sadly and tilted her face up until he was staring directly in her eyes. "Everything's going to be okay," he told her softly.

She could feel the tears coming again. She blinked a few times and tried to turn her head away from him. He let go of her face and held onto her instead, in an embrace. She struggled, as he knew she would, but he held on tight. She stopped eventually and just sagged weakly in his arms. It pained him to see her like this.

"I just want it to end. I don't want to feel this," she said looking up at him again.

Cooper saw something change in her eyes, but before he could get a chance to realize what it was, she surged ahead and kissed him.

It was a needy and desperate sort of kiss, but passionate all the same. He let it continue, but when he felt her slender hands reach down and fiddle with his belt buckle he put a stop to it. He didn't want to take advantage of her when she was like this.

"Sex isn't going to make it go away Charlotte." He pushed her gently away from him.

"Just shut up and fuck me," she growled. She reached for him again and he grabbed her shoulders, effectively stopping her.

"Charlotte, stop. Just stop." He tried to hug her, but this time she stepped back out of his reach.

"You don't want me?" She said angrily. "Fine. Get out!"

Cooper couldn't win this fight. He knew he just needed to give her some time to cool off before approaching her again.

Charlotte waited until she could hear his footsteps pounding down the stairs so that she could finally break down. The tears came all at once. She let go and fully felt the loss of Big Daddy. So was so embarrassed of herself for crying.

Behind her the door opened again and she thought it was Cooper returning.

_He can't see me like this._

She silenced her sobbing and tried to steady her breathing. She was usually so good at controlling her emotions. Being back home with all its pain and memories was doing a number on her.

She didn't recognize the sound of the footsteps coming towards her, so she figured it couldn't be Cooper. She turned and was surprised to find Charlene looking at her. The surprise stopped the tears and for that she was grateful. The little girl walked closer to her, until they stood just one foot apart.

Charlotte looked down at her daughter in awe. She was so small for age and incredibly cute. She thought she would feel more motherly, but she was still just herself. They watched each other for a while, until Charlene stepped even closer and wrapped her arms around her. This hug was just as sweet and gentle as the first one and she could tell that the little girl wasn't letting go anytime soon.

"You really like hugs, huh?"

Charlene's eyes were closed, enjoying the comfort. "Uh huh," the girl said lazily.

Charlotte held her daughter for awhile longer and then finally let go. She could hear the church bells tolling in the distance. She knew what that meant. She gave the Charlene a once over, noticing that the girl was already dressed for the funeral: A black dress with a grey wool sweater and a pair of sensible black shoes.

"You'll come with me and Cooper, Dr. Freedman I mean. We're leaving for the church soon."

Charlene nodded silently and she wondered if the girl was always this shy. Well if she spent time growing up in the King household she was bound to be a little messed up. She turned away from Charlene and quickly applied some makeup to her tearstained face.

Charlene stayed silent behind her.

"Do you live here?" She asked, breaking the heavy silence that followed after the

hugging.

Charlene shook her head. "Not really."

Charlotte turned to her and inclined her head as a gesture to elaborate.

"Um, I live with Rachel my adoptive mother most of the time, but I spend a lot of time with granddaddy. Before he was sick he used to take me to plays and museums and sometimes the zoo. I visit here a lot. I come for dinner sometimes or just to visit."

"You've known Big Daddy all of your life?"

Charlene nodded and stepped over to the edge of the bed to sit, while Charlotte continued to question her and apply her make up at the same time. She was still confused about Charlene's inclusion into the King family.

"So, you know about me?" It was more a question than a statement.

"Of course. You're Charlotte Louisa King, my Momma. You're a doctor and the Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose. Granddaddy keeps me informed," her daughter said, sounding oddly like an adult.

The church bells tolled again as she put on the finishing touches. Charlotte closed her compact and turned to face Charlene. They stared at each other again, each fascinated with what they were seeing.

"No one, but you and grandma know I exist now." She lowered her head. "I don't know what to do now," Charlene confessed.

Charlotte moved over to Charlene's side and administered a few awkward, but comforting pats. "Time to go."

0oo0oo0

"What am I supposed to do?" Charlotte whispered to Cooper. They were currently standing outside Charlotte's rented Mercedes coupe, (because she wouldn't even get into Cooper's dinosaur of a car), discussing the Charlene situation. Her family was big, but everyone knew each other and would probably notice the lost King child.

"There'll be so many people there Char. They won't even notice. Anyways we're going to be late." He put a hand on the small of her back attempting to gently guide her away from the car.

"I can go back," Charlene said quietly.

"No," Charlotte said firmly, instantly making up her mind. "We're going in now."

They were the last ones in the church and when Cooper opened the door he knew he was wrong. Everyone turned in their direction, silent at first, but then the whispering began. Pews and pews of Kings were all gossiping, all staring.

"Okay, so they notice," Cooper said in the doorway.

Charlotte smacked him on the shoulder before leading him and Charlene to the front row where her mother, her brothers and their wives and children were sitting. The whispering grew louder and her brothers gave her identical looks of confusion. Her nieces all turned and stared openly at the mini-Charlotte. Her mother was smashed and could care less. What a wonderful day for a funeral.

So they sat, with Charlene in the middle and Charlotte and Cooper on either side of her. Charlotte glared at her family in warning and scooted closer to Charlene. If Cooper didn't know any better he would think that Charlotte was being a little protective of her daughter.

The whispering turned into chatter and the priest was growing more and more frustrated at the lack of respect.

The priest walked up to the podium that stood off to the side of the altar. He gazed harshly at the mourners hoping they would take a hint and quiet down, but they didn't, so he forced his hand down on the smooth wood of the podium causing the resulting _thud _to reverberate throughout the cathedral. Achieving the appropriate response, the priest began his somber speech.

Charlotte let out a sigh of relief, thankful for the distraction. She finally glanced down at Charlene. The little girl was gazing listlessly at the dark casket sitting in the middle of the isle that separated the rows of pews into two sections. She noticed how pale and tired Charlene looked and she agreed with what Cooper had observed earlier, the child was a little on the thin side.

In a hasty action, she reached down and grabbed Charlene's hand. Charlene looked down at their clasped hands, but otherwise remained silent.

0oo0oo0

The eulogy had been read, death rites had been preformed and the casket had been lowered into the ground in the King section of the Monroeville Cemetery. The immediate King family had been summoned by their lawyers for the Last Will and Testament to be read.

Charlotte had sent Cooper back to the King manor, not wanting him to be exposed to more King family drama. The immediate King family was currently in their lawyers' office. Her nieces had been sent to wait in the lobby, but her brothers and their wives were there and Charlotte's mother sat in one of the two chairs before a grand mahogany desk, uninterested in the argument her children were having.

"Who is she?" her brother Duke hissed in a whisper. Charlene was in the office too, standing in the back corner.

Charlotte walked closer to Duke. "She's Charlene King, my daughter and your niece."

Her other brother Landry looked at her disappointedly and said, "You had a daughter? Without telling us?"

"Why would you hide her?" Duke asked.

"I didn't hide her," she snapped. "I gave her up for adoption because I was young, and in med school and not exactly mothering material."

"So why did you bring her back? Why now Charlotte? You want a bigger piece of the pie," Duke accused. He was talking about their inheritance.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "A bigger piece of the pie? That's what you're worried about? Well, I should tell you then that none of this is my doing. " She looked directly at Landry. He seemed to be more sympathetic. "When I came home, I saw her and it was the first I had seen of her since the day of her birth. This is all Big Daddy's doing. Apparently he's been bringing her to the house and spending time with the girl. I had no clue and if you don't believe me ask momma."

Duke and Landry both turned to their mother.

In a moment of lucidity their mother said, "Charlene King has been adopted back into the family. She's here to stay. No use arguing about that. Besides that other woman has gone up and left her."

Charlene stepped forward, gaining everyone's attention. "Rachel's gone?" She said quietly.

"Gone since Monday," Momma King embellished. "Doesn't matter anymore, there's a plan for you."

Charlene went silent and stepped back to her corner. The room grew still and her brothers had the decency to look somewhat ashamed. One elderly lawyer dressed in a navy blue suit walked in suddenly and the King family gained their composure.

Charlotte motioned for her daughter to come stand by her and Charlene complied. Then finally the proceedings began. The properties were divided; the King manor going solely to their mother and the other vacation homes going to the children. The money was doled out in the form of trust funds to each child and grandchild.

"Ten Million will be given to each of Jacob T. King's surviving children," the gray haired lawyer droned. "And five million will be given to each grandchild, with the exception of Charlene M. King."

Her brothers held their breath. With any luck the illegitimate King would get nothing.

"Charlene King," the lawyer continued, squinting down at the papers in front of him. "Will get thirty million."

Charlotte's eyes widened, her brothers were speechless and her sisters-in-law gasped.

"Are you sure about that," Duke asked disbelievingly.

Charlotte rolled her eyes, but the lawyer informed her brother that what he had read was true.

"The transfer of all funds will be made on the next business day, Monday," the lawyer said. "There is one last matter to take care of and this concerns Charlotte King and her daughter, Charlene King only. The rest of you may leave."

Her bothers wouldn't look at her as they walked out and their wives followed suit, but her mother kissed Charlene and then followed after her brothers.

Charlotte took and seat and motioned for Charlene to take the other. They watched as the lawyer shuffled through all of the papers. "Ah, here we are," the lawyer mumbled. "I have a letter written by your father. He wished for it to be read to you.

Charlotte nodded and lawyer began:

_My Dear Charlotte,_

_If you are reading this then the cancer has finally gotten the best of me. By now you have probably met your daughter, Charlene, and you're most likely wondering why she is in the King household. Let me explain:_

_When you put your child up for adoption I couldn't help, but wonder what would happen to her. It was a responsible decision on your part, but she would always be a King to me, no matter where she went. I found the adoptive mother and gained custody of her (you'll notice her last name is already King). I named her Charlene after you, so you'll find that you both share the same nickname._

_I know I have never been a perfect father and for that I am sorry. Through Charlene I got a second chance. Though she lived with her adoptive mother, Rachel Smith, most of the responsibility of raising Charlene had fallen to me. I did the best I could, but now that I am unable to, I am passing this responsibility back to you. I know that she'll be in capable hands._

_All My Love,_

_Big Daddy_

Charlotte said nothing at first and then, "Do I have to sign any papers?"

For the next few minutes all the proper forms were filled in silence and then Charlene was hers.

They walked out of the office to find the lobby empty. Everyone else had left. Charlotte knew what was happening. She was being shunned by her own family.

Wordlessly she led her daughter out of the building and into the parking lot. They got into the car with Charlene sitting in the back.

"What happens now?" Charlene asked her.

Charlotte turned around and studied her daughter's face. She found fear in those green eyes that were identical to her own.

"Now we go home."


	6. Back To LA

**Chapter Five: Back to LA**

Charlotte was gazing out of her bedroom window, contemplating her plane ride home. She had been home now for nearly four hours and all she could think about was how she cried like a twelve-year old girl in Cooper's lap. She embarrassed herself and not only that, she just fell apart. She lost control.

But after the plane ride she got herself together and sent Cooper back to his home. He insisted on staying, but after a few minutes of arguing he finally saw her logic. Charlene arrived on the plane after hers. It was the only way she could get the girl to LA in the same day. The child was exhausted and by the time they got home Charlene just wanted to sleep.

Now her daughter resided in the guestroom down the hall. With her, Charlene had brought two large suitcases of clothes and a battered old teddy bear. Charlotte learned that the girl had been nearly living at the King manor for the last month. The things at Rachel's house were to be boxed up and shipped by a very helpful neighbor. Her daughter didn't say much about this neighbor, just that he would help.

To be honest, her daughter didn't seem to say much about anything. She might be a very shy child or maybe the kid just didn't like her. If that was the case, then she wasn't surprised. She didn't think she could be a good mother the first time she had Charlene and now on the second time around she had similar feelings. How was she supposed to take care of a child while running Pacific Wellcare and St. Ambrose?

The shrill cry of the doorbell interrupted her thoughts and she silently cursed the person who had rung it. Quietly, she slipped down the hall and checked the guestroom to make sure the kid was still asleep.

She still was. _Good._

Somehow she wasn't surprised when she opened the door to find Cooper standing out there. He held up a bag of what looked like Chinese takeout. He always used food as his bargaining chip.

"Didn't I tell you to go home?" She asked while crossing her arms over her chest.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well I know you don't know how to cook, so I figured you two must be hungry."

"I know how to cook," she said defensively. "I just…don't like to, besides Charlene is asleep."

"Dinner for two then," he said while stepping into her house. She sighed and followed him to the kitchen. He started to set the table, remembering where everything in her kitchen was despite the time they spent apart.

"Coop, you don't have to be here."

Her voice sounded a little cold to him, but he continued on as is. "Lo Mein or General Tao Chicken?"

Charlotte was getting a little frustrated now. "I don't need you to be here."

Now her voice was downright frosty. Cooper put down the cartons of noodles and turned to her. "I know that," he tried to say calmly. "But _I _want to be here and I thought I would do something nice for you." He gestured to the food.

"You don't need to do any more nice things for me!" She snapped.

He watched her huff and retreat back into her spotless white living room. He now understood what this was about. It was the crying thing.

He made his way silently to her side and tried rubbing her arm comfortingly. She jerked away from him and then glared at him for good measure.

"It's okay," he said, talking about what happened on the plane.

"I cried like a little girl," she suddenly said.

"Charlotte you are a girl."

She glared at him.

"And you are kind small," he reasoned.

"Shut up!"

Clearly humor was not going to work for him today. "I don't care if you cry. When people are sad they cry. It's a normal thing to do Charlotte."

"Well I'm not normal," she said stubbornly.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of," he insisted. But when she said nothing he sighed and brought a hand up to caress her cheek. "It's when you don't cry that scares me."

Charlotte stayed quiet and then, "Do you want to stay the night?"

0oo0oo0

Charlie woke up the next day a little confused. She didn't recognize the room she was in, but when she looked beside her bed she found her familiar suitcases and remembered that she was at Charlotte's house. Charlotte. That's what her momma wanted Charlie to call her.

She looked over at the digital clock on the nightstand. It was eight on a Monday morning. She should be in school. To be honest she hadn't been in school for the last two weeks, but her private school knew about her granddaddy's illness and they had excused her. She wondered where she would go to school now.

After a moment's hesitation, she got out of bed and opened the door to the room. She couldn't hear anyone else up in the house. She wandered down the hall still dressed in her purple pajamas until she found what she assumed was the living room. The room was mostly white: White couch, white armchairs, white coffee table, white bookcases, and white walls. Even the rug on the hardwood floor was white.

The bookcases interested her the most. She walked over to them and browsed the selection. Charlotte seemed to like _To Kill a Mocking Bird_. She noticed that there were about seven different copies of the book. One was a first edition. She scanned some more and found an entire shelf full of Shakespeare's plays. She smiled. Her momma had an appreciation for great works of literature.

She pulled out a battered copy of Hamlet and trudged back over to the pristine white couch. For a nine year old she had impressive reading comprehension skills. She could grasp themes and pick up on subtleties no other child her age could. Puns, metaphors and allusions did not get past her. And so she adored Shakespeare, with its double meanings, witty characters and brilliant plots.

She moved from a sitting position to a laying position hugging the book to her. She almost dozed off, thinking about Claudius, Gertrude and Hamlet, but light footsteps woke her up.

She opened her eyes to see Charlotte standing above her.

"Thou know'st 'tis common," Charlie quoted. "All that lives must die, passing through nature to eternity."

"Ay, madam, it is common," Charlotte responded. "You know Shakespeare? Aren't you a little young?"

Charlie shrugged. "I like to read."

Silence.

0oo0oo0

Silence.

Charlotte took a seat in a white armchair and tried to engage in conversation again. The silence was uncomfortable. She usually didn't talk to people unless it was work related. There was Cooper…but that was different. She could talk to Cooper about anything. It was just easier with him. She wondered why. But with a child, her child, it was harder.

Charlene was smart and Charlotte had a feeling that Shakespeare was just the tip of the iceberg and for that she was proud. There could be another King doctor in the making.

"Are you hungry?" She asked.

"Not really," Charlene answered.

"You didn't eat at all yesterday," she said casually. "I think you should. Now I can't cook, but I can make you toast and jelly. Sound good?"

"Sounds good."

Charlotte watched her daughter eat in silence. The child ate in small meticulous bites, never getting crumbs or jelly on herself. She would have joined Charlene in eating, but she was still nauseous from the Chinese Cooper brought last night.

He had stayed the night, but all he did was sleep. She was still a little peeved at him for that, but she had to admit that in some tiny way she grateful that all he wanted to do was cuddle. Too bad he had to go to work.

Charlene finished her breakfast and looked at her expectantly.

"If you need some alone time…"

"I don't want to be alone," Charlene said outright. "I don't want to be sad."

"Well, neither do I, but its part of the human condition."

"The human condition?"

"Yeah," she said offhandedly. "Feelings and emotions. That sort of thing. But it's okay to be sad," she quickly amended. She was going to do this kid raising thing right, even if it killed her. "It's okay to cry too."

Charlene gave her a pointed look. "You don't cry."

"I do.''

"No," Charlene said shaking her head. "You don't."

"I do too," she insisted. Although she had no idea why she would admit she cried over anything. She thought crying was a weakness.

"Well how come I've never seen you cry?" Charlene grinned mischievously at her. Now she knew the little girl was just playing with her.

She smiled. "You're a little brat, you know that?" _I don't know why people complain. Raising kids is easy._

"Where's Dr. Freedman?"

"Call him Cooper. He's at work."

"Oh."

She picked up Charlene's empty plate and brought it to the sink.

"Do you love him?" Charlene asked.

_Yes! _ "Maybe."

"Are you going to marry him?"

"Probably," she said before she could stop herself. "But we'll keep that just between us. Okay?"

"Okay."

She deposited the dish in the sink and went back to sit at the table. "Since we both don't want to be sad, why don't you come with me to work?"

She knew everyone was expecting her to stay home this week, but she needed to work to get through this. She was still grieving, but just thinking about work made her forget about all her sorrows. Maybe it would do the same thing for Charlene.

"And watch you be a doctor?" Charlene said excitedly.

She really liked this little girl now. "I'm the Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose and the director of a private medical practice called Pacific Wellcare," Charlotte said proudly. "Now go on. Go get ready."


	7. Don't Do Sadness

**Chapter Six: Don't Do Sadness**

Violet Turner was watching her best friend closely. Cooper had already run through his weekend with Cruella, a. k. a Charlotte King, but something was still on his mind. Something that he wasn't telling her. Sure she knew he edited parts of his narration to protect the blonde, but she could tell that he learned a big juicy secret about the Charlotte.

The clues were there. He avoided eye contact. He kept ringing his wrists and he kept looking at the door, his only exit out of her office. He was definitely keeping a secret.

"You think I should call her," Cooper asked. "Just to see how she's doing."

This constant obsession with Charlotte was what really annoyed her. All he did was worry about the evil little blonde. Not that she wasn't unsympathetic because she truly was sad about Charlotte's loss, but right now she was pregnant with two potential fathers. She liked them both, but she kind of liked Pete more. The problem was that she hadn't told either of them yet, but Cooper didn't really seem to care about her drama. Or rather he did care, but he being the love sick puppy that he is, was still going on and on about Charlotte, her nemesis and competitor for Cooper's attention.

"I think that would probably annoy her Coop."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just worried about her." He looked like he was about to say something else, but didn't.

She had sort of stopped paying attention to him anyways and was focusing on her belly. She was going to blow up to the size of a beach ball. The idea of another human being growing inside of her freaked her out and fascinated her all at the same time. She tentatively placed a hand on her belly.

When she noticed Cooper had been silent for the last minute she looked back up at him and blushed. He had caught her being kind of motherly.

"Sorry," she said putting her hand back at her side. "What were you saying?"

He smiled in that knowing way. "You're pregnant Vi, you have to accept that. And I promise, I'll be there to help you."

_Not if Cruella has her way._

0oo0oo0

"It's big," Charlene said in reference to Charlotte's office.

"That's because I'm the boss," Charlotte told her proudly. "Come on let's see the rest of the place."

Charlotte was giving Charlene the grad tour of Pacific Wellcare. She knew the place would seem impressive to the little girl. Patients were filling the lobby and lots of important looking doctors were scurrying around.

As they walked on, all of Charlotte's staff stopped to give their condolences. She could tell they were all surprised that she was back so soon. She could also see a hint of fear in their eyes. She smiled secretly at that. Yep, was still the top dog.

No one commented on Charlene, but it couldn't be doubted that there was a great resemblance between their boss and the child standing next to her.

"Dr. King!" Someone called behind her

She turned around to see Sheldon Wallace. He was a good shrink, but she personally found him annoying.

"Yes, Sheldon," she said impatiently.

"I didn't know you were coming in today. I'm kind of surprised."

"Well I'm here so…" She hoped he would get the hint and get lost but, he just kept on talking.

"Dr. King, grieving is a process," Sheldon began. "You need time to overcome your loss. You should-."

She was not interested in his analysis. "I skipped a couple of steps. And you know I think you and me need to have a little talk," she said sharply.

"About what?" He was getting nervous. She could tell.

"About your involvement with a certain therapist in the enemy practice."

He gulped. "Violet?"

"That would be the one," she said flippantly. Just then she remembered that Charlene was watching. She was supposed to be this girl's role model. Tearing down men was not a skill a little girl her age should learn. Maybe when she was older. "Charlene, why don't you run up to the fifth floor and surprise Cooper? I'm sure he'll love to see you. Dr. Wallace and I have to discuss something."

Charlene agreed and then left.

Charlotte nodded to Sheldon and led him to her office. She took a seat behind her big imposing desk and gestured for him to sit.

"Your relationship with Dr. Turner needs to be handled."

"Handled? I don't see why any of this is your concern?"

"I just don't want a scandal. If one of my doctors is caught up in something, I don't want the reputation of the practice being compromised."

Sheldon looked thoroughly confused. "A scandal? Dr. King you are not making any sense."

"The pregnancy Sheldon!" She said losing her temper.

"Pregnancy?" His eyes widened in realization. "You mean Violet's pregnant?"

"Yes."

"Pregnant?" he uttered disbelievingly. "With a baby?"

"No, with a horse," she snapped. "Yes, with a baby! And it might be your baby, so I need you to take care of it."

Sheldon just sat there with that dumbfounded look on his face. "She's pregnant?" he asked again.

Charlotte cocked an eyebrow. "You didn't know she was pregnant?"

"No, I didn't. Would you excuse me," he said. And then he was gone.

It was then that Charlotte remembered that Violet's pregnancy and paternal predicament was a secret, a secret that she shouldn't have exposed.

"Shit!" _I'm in trouble._

But she did have to admit, working was making her forget about her grief.

0oo0oo0

Violet wasn't sure what she was seeing. Standing in front of her, near the receptionist desk was a small blonde girl. But the thing about this girl was that she looked exactly like Charlotte King. The resemblance was eerie. Behind her, Naomi came out of her office to see what she was staring at.

"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Violet asked her.

"Uh, yeah, Charlotte's mini me," Naomi answered.

Addison ventured near the two with her eyes glued to a chart. "Naomi do you think you can see one of my patients this afternoon? She's having trouble-." The redhead stopped talking when she noticed that her best friend was completely ignoring her to gawk at something in front of them. She turned to see what both Violet and Naomi were staring at.

"Whoa! Did someone shrink Charlotte?!" Addison exclaimed.

Charlene smiled at them shyly. "Excuse me, could one of you please tell me where Cooper is?"

"Of course sweetie," Naomi said. "Just back there. His office is the last one on the left."

"Are you by any chance related to Dr. Charlotte King?" Violet asked cutting in.

"I'm Charlene King, Charlotte's daughter." And then she was gone to find Cooper.

"Oh my god!" Violet exclaimed. _This is what Cooper has been hiding._

"Charlotte has a daughter?" Naomi asked.

Addison was just about to comment, but the elevator opened and Sheldon stalked out of it.

"You're pregnant and you didn't tell me?!" Sheldon shouted, loud enough for all to hear.

Violet blanched. "Who told you?"

"Charlotte. My boss had to tell me," Sheldon said angrily. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"To be fair, I didn't tell Pete either," she said. "Well now you know."

The thing about Violet was that she was an avoider. When she felt uncomfortable in a situation she removed herself and that's just what she did. She hopped on the elevator and went down one floor.

She intended to give Charlotte a piece of her mind.

0oo0oo0

Cooper was a little surprised to see Charlene. Okay, he was more than surprised because if Charlene was here then so was Charlotte. And he knew she was not ready to come back to work. She still needed time.

"Hi, Charlene," he said. "Not that I'm not happy to see you, because I am, but what are you doing here?"

"Charlotte brought me to work and she's been showing me what she does, but I came up here to visit you."

He watched the girl walk around and examine his office. She immediately gravitated towards his bookcases and began scanning his various medical texts. Never mind all the wacky toys he had in his office.

"You like to read," he asked.

"It's my favorite thing to do."

"Oh yeah? What do you like to read?"

" The classics: Jane Eyre, A Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlett letter, Frankenstein, Ethan Frome…you know. I like poetry, especially anything written by Emily Dickenson or Poe."

He could tell she was enthusiastic about her literature. He was also a little surprised that a girl her age could read and understand those books.

"What grade are you in Charlene?"

"I'm supposed to be in third, but I skipped a couple of grades. I'm in the sixth grade now," she said proudly.

"Wow, you are one impressive young lady."

Charlene smiled and he recognized that smile as Charlotte's. It was so beautiful.

"Do you love Charlotte?" Charlene suddenly asked him.

"Uh, well…," he stumbled. Then he looked around and leaned closer to her. "Can you keep a secret?"

Charlene nodded her head vigorously.

"One day I'm going to marry her."

Charlene giggled. "That's what Charlotte says."

He grinned. "Really? You guys have been talking about me?"

She nodded shyly.

"What else did she say?"

"Sorry, can't tell you. It's a secret."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was just filling out some paperwork when Violet barged into her office. She wasn't really surprised that the therapist had come, but she was surprised at how angry Violet was. The therapist had a temper.

"What the hell do you think you're doing telling everyone that I'm pregnant?!"

Charlotte stood. "I wasn't telling everyone, just the potential father of your child," she said haughtily.

"So you're judging me now? Because I don't seem to remember you telling Cooper about that cute little blonde girl before," Violet shot back.

"That cute little blonde girl," She said angrily. "Is Charlene and…that is a really long story that you know nothing about. Besides Sheldon deserves to know that he has a baby."

"I can't believe you did that! No…no I can believe you did that. You are an evil little…"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," Charlotte growled.

Violet threw her hands up. "Now everyone knows."

Charlotte sat back down. The fight was becoming less intense by the second. "Everyone would have figured out eventually."

Violet took a sudden interest in her shoes. "Not if I chose to get rid of it," the therapist said quietly.

She pursed her lips. "That doesn't really seem fair. The baby, who did nothing wrong, has too suffer 'cause you couldn't keep your knees together?"

Violet looked up quickly and glared at her.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and said, "I'm putting this fight on pause. You should know that the kid thing. It's not so bad."

"Thanks. And you should really be at home. Grieving takes time." Violet was silent for a moment. "I still hate you." And just like that they were enemies again.

"Good, because I still hate you too."

"Cruella," Violet mumbled. And

"What did you say?"

"Nothing."

"You are so lucky you're pregnant. Now get out of my office."

"I can't believe you're the one Cooper loves," Violet said disgustedly.

Violet was already gone, when she replied.

"That makes two of us."

0oo0oo0

Charlie was thinking about the wonderful day she had. It was exciting seeing her momma work and she liked spending time with Cooper. It was a fun day, but now that she was alone in her room, the reality of her situation hit. Granddaddy was dead, Rachel left her and she was in a completely new city where she would have to go to a new school and make new friends. But mostly she missed her granddaddy.

It was night and she couldn't sleep in a new place. Last night she had just been exhausted, but tonight she couldn't even close her eyes without thinking about her grandfather laying in that bed, looking so pale.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was thinking about how successful her day was. She had gotten a lot of work accomplished, forgotten about Big Daddy's death and managed to piss off that annoying therapist, Violet. But now reality was crashing down on her.

Her bedroom door creaked open, scaring her half to death until she remembered that Charlene lived here too.

The little girl walked silently to the side of her bed. "I miss him." Charlene said. "Can I sleep with you tonight?"

She scooted over to make room in her bed and lifted up the comforter. "Get in." Charlene curled up against her and she hesitantly wrapped her arms around the small girl. It felt natural and she was kind of comfortable now.

They stayed like for a few moments and Charlotte was doing fine until Charlene started crying. She couldn't help, but cry too.

She thought she could avoid feeling her sorrow, but she couldn't. The sorrow came and got her anyways.


	8. What Are We Doing?

**Chapter Seven: What are we doing?**

For the first time in history, Charlotte had willingly taken a day off, granted she spent it working from home, but it was still something. Charlene had made herself scarce, locked herself away in the guestroom reading. She had almost forgotten about the girl, which resulted in her remembering her lack of parenting skills.

So she set out for the nearest bookstore, picking up an armload of parenting books. With any luck studying might give her the skills she needed.

Just as she was about to approach the checkout counter, her cell phone rang and immediately she put down her pile of books to answer it. She was slightly peeved when it turned out to be Cooper. She thought it might have been a work related emergency.

She answered with, "Shouldn't you be working?"

"Hello to you, too," he laughed. "Someone's a little grumpy today."

"What? You want me to be happy," she shot back at him. "Cause it's a little hard to be happy with-."

He cut her off. "Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I just wanted to see how you were doing." His voice grew softer. "So how are you doing?"

"As well as can be expected," was her impersonal response.

He tried a different approach. "So what are you doing?"

"Just out buyin' some books."

"Oh, Charlene must love that. Are her little eyes lighting up with joy?" He asked jokingly.

It hit her then that she had completely forgotten about Charlene. "Shit!"

She had left the little girl at home, all alone, without even telling her that she was going out. In her defense she had never had to take care of anyone, but herself before.

"Charlotte?" Cooper asked. "She is with you right?

"Coop, I gotta go." And with that she hung up her phone, purchased her books and then sped all the way home.

Charlotte found Charlene just as she left her. The little girl was sprawled out on her bed with her head in a book. On closer inspection she noticed that the girl's head was actually resting on the book. Charlene was, thank god, asleep and probably hadn't noticed her absence.

She quietly exited and closed the door behind her.

"God, what am I doing?"

0oo0oo0

"Is she actually taking a day off?" Naomi asked. She was sitting on Addison's office couch. The Oceanside women were currently discussing the new hot topic: Charlotte and her secret daughter.

"I know, I having a hard time picturing her relaxing," Addison commented from the armchair to the right of Naomi. "I've only ever seen her working or bitching or doing both at the same time."

"I can't believe they let her keep the kid," Violet voiced, also sitting on the couch.

"She's so cute, isn't she?" Addison said, choosing to ignore Violet's remark.

Naomi nodded in agreement. "It's scary how they look so alike. I wish I knew the story behind that," the fertility specialist said directing her comment towards Violet.

Violet threw her hands up. "Cooper won't tell me anything. Not even a little hint. Some best friend he is."

"Really?" Addison asked.

"Really," Violet said as she got off the couch.

"Hey, where are you going?" Naomi asked.

"Morning sickness," Violet answered and then left.

When it was just the two of them, Addison and Naomi started discussing the other hot topic: The Violet, Pete and Sheldon love triangle.

"I still can't believe she's pregnant," the redhead said.

"Wasn't she the one who said she didn't want kids?" Naomi brought up.

"Yeah, but she's having this one. Is it bad that I kind of hope Pete's the father? I mean Sheldon's nice, but…"

"He's weird," Naomi finished. "I am in total agreement."

"Are we being petty?" Addison wondered.

"Probably. So Violet seems to be handling this nicely. I thought for sure she would be freaking out, but she's so zen these days," Naomi said.

"Yeah," the Addison agreed. "But Pete and Sheldon will throw her over the edge and now that Cooper is back with Charlotte, he won't be able to keep her from freaking out."

Naomi thought about it and then said, "Oh, that's bad. But you know Pete has been pretty calm about the pregnancy. It's kind of weird that he accepted it just like that. He was surprised when he found out, but he wasn't even mad that she hid it from him. He must really like her."

"You know," Addison said. "I think he's growing."

0oo0oo0

Violet had just left Addison and Naomi and was throwing up in the ladies room. It was empty except her, well it was until the door opened and Pete walked. He had seen her rushing to the restroom a few seconds earlier and decided that he should do something. He was a potential father after all.

"Violet, are you in here?"

"You just saw me come in," she replied in a not so happy tone.

He laughed. "Are you mad at me?"

The only reply that came was the sound of retching. He moved down the row of stalls until he found the one Violet was in. The therapist opened the stall door before he could and headed towards the sinks. Violet washed her hands and then whipped out a small bottle of mouthwash from the pocket on the front of her dressed and gurgled and spit.

"I'm not mad at you," she finally said. "At least I think I'm not. I mean it's probably just the hormones because I really don't have anything to be mad about-."

He stopped her with a kiss. He probably shouldn't have, but she was being so damn cute. Plus, it shut her up.

"Mmm, Minty," Pete said as he slowly pulled back.

"Shut up," she said, finally smiling. She backed up a few steps and he arched an eyebrow in question. "This is what got me into trouble in the first place," she informed.

"Yeah, well, you're already pregnant…" He gave her a devilish grin.

"You know," she said on a more serious note. "You should be angry with me. I hid the baby from you."

He shrugged his shoulders. "You were scared." There was silence after he spoke.

"You know this is the girl's bathroom," She pointed out. "You should probably leave."

He nodded. "You know we're all going to have to sit down and talk sometime."

"Yeah," she said. God, she was not looking forward to that day. "Do you know where Cooper is?"

Pete shrugged his shoulders. "I think he went to Charlotte's like an hour ago." He gave her one last hopeful smile left and then left.

Alone, Violet started assessing her current dilemma. She liked Pete, she really liked Pete, but she liked Sheldon too. But Pete…god there was just something about that man. She wondered if either man would stop caring for her when she discovered the paternity of her child. She wondered if she would even still have them. And that led to thoughts of being alone and having a baby alone and raising a child alone.

She really needed Cooper.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte fell back onto the bed fully sated. Cooper had come over shortly after the Charlene fiasco and she assured him that they were fine and that Charlene had slept through the whole thing. The kid was still asleep now, which is why she had some free time.

It had been awhile since her and Cooper had slept together, but the sex was still phenomenal. She was glad they hadn't gotten out of practice.

Cooper lay down beside her moments after, sweaty, naked and out of breath. He let his hand rest on her bare thigh, while he recovered.

"So are we back together?" He asked.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "You were pretty mad at me Coop. You told me to go to hell. You said I didn't have the same goals as you. You said I didn't behave the way any normal human behaved."

Cooper rolled over to his side to watch her. "Do you remember everything I tell you?"

"Mostly."

He reached a hand out and gently stroked her face. "You know I didn't mean any of those things."

Charlotte's brow scrunched in honest confusion. "You didn't?"

He paused mid-caress. The look on her face told him that she had believed every word he said. Had she honestly thought he could be that mean? "I was just mad. I wanted to hurt you," Cooper explained.

"Well it worked," she mumbled while swatting his hand away.

"I'm sorry for saying all those mean things. And I know you're sorry. God only knows how many times you apologized to me. I forgive you for lying to me about your practice. Do you forgive me for being such a big jerk?"

"I deserved all of that."

He pulled her in close and pressed a few kisses into her soft yellow hair. "You didn't deserve to be treated like that. You're a good woman Charlotte, a little flawed, but good. Remember that."

"I will."

"So now we are officially back together."

"Yeah, and baby makes three," she joked.

Cooper gave her a surprised look and looked down at her stomach.

"I was talking about Charlene," she said dryly.

He laughed nervously. "Oh. Yeah."

Luckily for Cooper the doorbell rang at that precise moment and he was saved.

"I'll get it," Charlotte said as she got up and searched for her robe. She quickly checked to make sure Charlene was still napping before opening the front door and revealing a certain annoying therapist.

"Violet," she said unhappily

"Is Cooper here?" Violet asked with a tinge of distress in his voice.

"What's the matter? Two men aren't enough for you?" It was a low blow, but it still gave her satisfaction.

Violet glared at her. "I just want to talk to him."

"Well he's busy," Charlotte said haughtily. She started to close the door, but a stronger person stopped her. Cooper stood behind her, sloppily dressed in white undershirt and boxers.

"Ladies," Cooper warned. "Do I have to separate you two?"

"She was just leaving," Charlotte interjected. She definitely felt threatened. She had just got the man back and now Violet was just going to take Cooper away from her. She couldn't let that happen.

"First of all I was not just leaving. Second of all, why aren't you answering any of my calls?" Violet whined.

"Because he doesn't have to be at your beck and call all the time," Charlotte commented snidely.

"Really, you want to go there? Violet challenged.

"Vi," Cooper warned.

Charlotte crossed her arms and huffed angrily. "Coop you can come back in with me or go with her."

"Yeah," Violet said seconding that motion.

Cooper shook his head at the two. "You guys want me to choose between the two of you?"

"Is something wrong?"

All three doctors turned to see who had uttered those words. Charlene stood just behind the arguing trio, yawning and looking sleepy.

"Is something wrong," Charlene repeated.

"Nothing's wrong," Charlotte soothed. "Did you want something?"

Charlene kept her eyes on the floor as she said, "I'm a little hungry." Charlene was a shy girl and she was aware that she was the focus of attention.

Charlotte's whole demeanor softened. "Alright, let's go see if we can rustle you up somethin' to eat." She gently guided her daughter further into the house.

When Charlotte was out of sight, Violet and Cooper stared after her in wonder.

"What was that?" Violet asked.

"That was the power of Charlotte," Cooper replied.

Cooper couldn't stop glancing behind him. He was curious and he liked seeing this softer side of Charlotte.

"That was freaky. I didn't even know she had maternal side. How long has she had this kid for?"

"Four or five days now," he answered absentmindedly, attention still focused on what was going on inside the house. Violet noticed this.

"You know what? I'll see you later Coop. Go play house with Charlotte," Violet said bitterly.


	9. Getting To Know You

**Chapter Eight: Getting to Know You**

Charlotte was getting ready for work. She was rushing around getting all the files she took home with her in order. She had been dressed for nearly an hour and should have left about half an hour ago, but she kept putting it off and finding other tasks to keep her home for just a while longer.

Once again she checked in Charlene's room to see the girl in the exact same spot she had seen her two hours before. The girl was sitting by the widow staring despondently out of it.

Charlotte was worried. She couldn't get the Charlene to move. She couldn't even get the child's attention. It was like Charlene was stuck inside of herself, incapable of reacting to the environment around her. She was catatonic.

This was her reason for not going to work yet.

"Charlene," she called out.

No response.

She tried again. "Charlie?"

0oo0oo0

Charlie couldn't hear anything around her. She was in her head, in her memories. Things made sense here. She felt wanted. Granddaddy had certainly wanted her, even more than Rachel had and admittedly, even more than Charlotte had.

Charlie was a sensitive child. Shy about meeting strangers, awkward among her peers and not good with change. And there was definitely lots of change going on in her life, good and bad. But the change bought so many feeling. Things she didn't want to feel and like her mother she was proficient in locking herself away. Only Charlie went to extremes and completely disassociated herself from the change and the emotions that came with it.

Right now, she was home again with granddaddy and she was teaching him the names of the stars.

_They were outside on the terracotta patio. The stars were bright above them, but everything else was covered in a thick blanket of darkness. She shifted her telescope over to the right, focused and then gestured for her granddaddy to look._

_"That cluster of stars over there is Cassiopeia."_

_"Really?" Big Daddy said interestedly._

_"Yep and that over there is Pegasus."_

_He smiled softly at her. "So smart. Just like your mother."_

0oo0oo0

Charlotte couldn't understand why Charlene was acting like this. She knew there was a lot of stuff going on, but Charlene had seemed to be coping with all of it. What had caused this? Maybe it was just a delayed reaction?

"Charlene, I'm going to be late for work. You need to get up." She cringed at how insensitive that sounded.

Insensitive or not, there was still no response from the girl.

She sighed and moved to gently shake the Charlene. Still nothing. Finally she settled on turning the chair Charlene was sitting in towards the bed. She then proceeded to take a seat on the bed facing Charlene.

"You've been here for what, a week and a half now? And we still don't know the first thing about each other."

Silence from Charlene. The girls eyes weren't even focused on her, they were staring blankly at the wall behind her.

"Okay, I'll go first." She took in a breath of air. "I'm in love with Cooper," she said quickly. When she got no response, she knew the girl was really gone. She was safe to speak her mind. No one would ever find out about her deep dark secrets. "Wildly in love with him. But the problem is I'm not really good enough for him. He's funny and charming and perfect. He's just a nice guy all around. He's more suitable for a woman like...Violet."

She made herself a little more comfortable on the bed and leaned back on the head board.

"What else? Let's see… my favorite book is "To Kill a Mocking Bird." My favorite color is indigo. I'm claustrophobic. I hate broccoli. I hate cheerful people in the morning or maybe I just hate cheerful people in general." She stopped speaking once she noticed a change in Charlene. The little girl's eyes seemed to be focusing.

"Okay. You wanna know a real secret? I told Cooper I hate romantic things like flowers and handholding, but I lied. I like those things, but I cannot afford to seem weak. I have to be strong or no one will respect me and I'll be just like those other silly soft women who think they need someone to be complete." She sighed and closed her eyes. "I don't need someone to make me whole, but it would be nice if someone loved me, flaws and all."

Charlene was blinking now and moving just a bit.

She continued. "I thought about you a lot. I wondered where you were, if you were happy, what you looked like. I didn't forget you."

"You didn't?"

Charlotte startled at the sound of her daughter's voice. She opened her eyes and looked over at the little girl. Charlene was responding and looking her directly in the eyes.

"Of course I didn't."

"I like cats," Charlene said. "And my favorite color is purple. I like to read and to stargaze. I love puzzles, flowers and the smell of fresh cut grass. I hate peas. I play the piano. I'm not sure what I want to be when I grow up, but granddaddy always said I could do anything." Charlene paused and lowered her head. "I really miss him and I'm afraid of…all of this change. I feel a little lost out here. I want to go back to the way things were."

"I'm sorry," Charlotte said softly, although she wasn't really sure what she was specifically apologizing for.

"Can I have a hug now?"

Charlene looked so sad, like a sad little puppy, so she obliged and opened up her arms to receive her daughter. Charlene launched off the chair and into her arms. They hugged, in a way that was supremely comforting and was quickly becoming familiar. When they finished they lay side by side on the queen-sized bed.

"You should ditch work today," Charlene suggested.

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. "Ditch?"

"Yeah, like not go to work."

She rolled her eyes. "I know what that means know-it-all."

"So you'll do it?"

Charlotte sighed. "Yes, I'll ditch." She sat up and began to get off the bed. "But first I need to make a few calls."

Charlene nodded, but remained lying on the bed. Charlotte went to her on room, found her cell, called in sick and then called Cooper.

"Charlotte?" He sounded tired.

"Are you still sleeping?" She said with just a hint of outrage touching her voice.

"Not everyone wakes up at the crack of dawn to go to work Char. Was there something you wanted?"

She stayed silent. She wasn't really sure why she was calling him. She had no reason really. The Charlene situation had been handled and there were no other problems. Why did she call him?

"You still there?" He asked.

"I'm still here."

There was another long pause.

"Did you just want to talk?" He asked. He paused and then added in a more hopeful tone, "Did you want to talk dirty?"

"You're awfully horny this early in the mornin'."

He laughed. "You just inspire horniness."

"Mmm, thank you, but that's not going to happen this morning." She took in a breath of air. "Listen we're staying home today and Charlene would like it if you stopped by. She likes spending time with you and you're much better at the kid thing than I am."

"Alright. I have two patients to see and then I'll come over. Does that work for you?"

"Yes," she said and then she hung up.

By the time she got back to Charlene, the little girl was almost asleep. It was still early in the morning and she decided that if she was going to ditch work she was going to do it right and sleep in. Once she lay on the bed the Charlene moved towards her warmth and curled up beside her.

She tousled Charlene's soft yellow hair and smiled. She couldn't believe she had made something this perfect. She took one last look and then closed her eyes to sleep.

0oo0oo0

Cooper rang the doorbell for what had to be the fifth time. He wished Charlotte kept a spare key hidden in the flower pot, but the woman was too paranoid for anything like that. Finally the door opened reveling a disgruntled, sleep tousled Charlotte.

"Good morning sleeping beauty."

"You're early," she said flatly.

He shrugged. "One of my patients cancelled." He stepped past her and entered her house uninvited.

She closed the door behind him. "You didn't bring any food. You always bring food. What, did Violet eat it all?"  
"Hey," he said defensively. "She's eating for two now. And you should not be making fun of her. You have caused enough trouble as is."

"Well maybe you shouldn't have told me her secret then. How was I supposed to know that idiot Sheldon would yell it for the entire building to hear?"

"You know," he said. "I should be mad at you for doing that, but I'm kind of glad Pete and Sheldon know."

Charlotte smirked. "So I'm pardoned now?"

"It's not me you have to apologize to. You will have to make it up to Violet eventually."

She scoffed and mumbled."In your dreams."

He chose to ignore this. "So where's the munchkin?"

She rolled her eyes. "The munchkin is just waking up."

"Ah, so you two slept in. I was wondering why your power suit was all wrinkled. Why didn't you change into something else," he asked.

"Because I was tired. I'll go change into something else. Charlene should be out soon."

He watched Charlotte leave the room, keeping his gaze on her ass. Definitely horny this morning. He only had to wait a few minutes for Charlene appeared. She smiled at him as soon as she saw him standing in the white living room.

"Hey midget!"

She scowled at him, in a way that was eerily similar to Charlotte's scowl. "I'm not a midget Cooper. I'm just petite."

He grinned. "Whatever you say munchkin."

"Is he being mean to you Charlene?" Charlotte asked as she walked back into the room. She had changed her outfit to a sexy dark purple dress. He very much wanted to take it off her right now.

"He's being very mean to me," Charlene answered.

She gave Charlotte puppy eyes, but the little girl gave him an evil grin. _Definitely Charlotte's daughter._

"I was not being mean, he protested.

"I think you were," Charlotte said, playing along. She gave him one of her rare sincere smiles before approaching him. She leaned in close and whispered in his ear, "I'll punish you later."

Images of leather and whips ran through his head. Punishment didn't sound so bad. "So ladies, what do you want to do today?"

Charlene shrugged, returning to her shyer self.

"How about we go grab some lunch?" He suggested.

"I not really hungry," Charlene told him.

"You don't eat much, do you?" He asked.

"I just don't feel hungry," Charlene said moving closer to Charlotte.

Cooper gave Charlotte a look, but she just shook her head. He intended to talk to Charlotte later about the girl's eating habits. "Okay, how about we go to the beach? Walk around, maybe get some ice cream."

Charlene nodded and said, "Sounds good."

0oo0oo0

Violet was enjoying a cup of tea in the break room. She was still a little ticked that Cooper had dropped everything to run to Charlotte's side again. She didn't mean to sound like a bitch, but they had had plans for lunch and she hardly had any time to spend with Coop. They were going to talk about her pregnancy and how to deal with the Pete and Sheldon problem. Cooper had invited her to come along, nice guy that he is, but right now she couldn't stand that prickly little blonde woman. She was still furious with Charlotte for letting her secret slip.

She sighed and then straightened up in her seat once she heard someone coming in.

Great. It was Pete.

He breezed past her, unaware of her presence, and reached for an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter. She tried to make herself seem small and unnoticeable, but Pete saw her anyway.

"Violet," he said in a semi-surprised voice.

"Hi Pete."

An uncomfortable silence fell on the room and they broke eye contact.

"So," Pete began. "How's the…," he gestured vaguely at her stomach, "baby."

"I feel nauseous and hungry all the time, but I think the baby's good."

"Oh, so…that's good." He gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder and then left.

She felt so alone. Pete was all hot and cold. Romantic and friendly one moment and then awkward and unsure the next. And Sheldon…well, she hadn't spoken to him since the day he found out. She couldn't handle this by herself.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte watched Cooper and Charlene build a sand castle from a distance. Cooper was grinning that big goofy grin he gets when he's around children and Charlene was chatting away with Cooper, which was definitely an improvement from the catatonic state she was in this morning.

She tore her eyes away from that wonderful site and pulled out a sleek silver cell phone from her purse. She dialed Landry's number.

"Hello," Someone said on the other line. She recognized it as her sister-in-law's voice.

"Don't hang up," She said first. "Put Landry-."

The line went dead. She had made calls to Duke and had had similar results. She couldn't believe they would shun her over something she had no control over. Like it was her fault her daughter ended up with the biggest piece of the pie. She threw her phone back into her purse angrily and fumed over her family's stupidity.

0oo0oo0

Cooper filled up yet another bucket of sand and packed the weather roughened sediments in tightly. He handed the orange plastic bucket over to Charlene and watched her erect the fourth and last tower of their sand castle.

"This is quite a castle," he commented.

"It's more of a fortress," Charlene said, squinting her eyes as she analyzed the sand structure. "Don't you think?"

He nodded in agreement while surreptitiously checking to make sure Charlotte was still there. He found the blonde staring into the ocean behind him looking a million miles away.

"In medieval times," Charlene said. "They would pour boiling hot oil down the walls of the fortress to burn anyone trying to climb up the walls." The little girl continued to smooth out the sand walls.

"That's… interesting."

He leaned back in the sand and let Charlene take over. She didn't seem to have any problems doing this. She stopped shoveling after a while and put down the little plastic shovel to grab a hand full of sand. Charlene watched the sand slip from between her fingers and drop to the ground.

"All things are part of a whole," Charlene began. "Each of these sediments eroded from a rock and the rocks broke off of boulders and the boulders came from mountains and the mountains came from the earth. People must be like that. Each one of us is part of something bigger." Charlene let the rest of the sand fall after her little speech.

Cooper e really didn't know what the appropriate response for that was, but nevertheless he was impressed. He couldn't understand how all that wisdom could be in such a small child.

Charlene didn't speak to him after that. Before the boiling oil and rocks speech she had been quiet, content, but quiet. He knew that something was wrong.

He stood; made sure Charlene was still occupied and headed over to the solemn Charlotte. She was sitting on the lone bench near the start of the beach and the end of the grass. Her troubled green eyes were looking out at the ocean, but he knew that she wasn't looking at the beautiful waters.

He took a seat next to her on the bench. Charlotte looked at him briefly and he watched as she focused her gaze on Charlene.

"Your kid is kind of brilliant," he said.

She arched an eye brow at this. "What did you expect? She's my daughter."

He grinned at her. And then he became serious. "So, besides being brilliant she's also kind of quiet today and melancholy. Is that the right word? Melancholy?"

"She's grieving Cooper. We're getting through it."

"But she doesn't eat."

"The loss of appetite comes with the grieving. I'll make sure she eats properly. Don't worry."

He nodded and then looked out at the water too. Truth be told he was still worried despite what Charlotte had told him. She was holding back, just as she always did. She wasn't telling him everything. They stayed silent, alternating their gazes between the ocean and Charlene.

"I'm sorry," he said.

"Why should you be sorry?"

"That all of this is happening." He sighed and couldn't meet her eyes. "I feel so useless," he said softly to himself.

But Charlotte had heard him. "You're not useless," she told him. And for Charlotte that was really saying something.

Charlene waved to them from the beach and they waved back.

"You're so good with her," She told him.

"So are you."

"But you're better at the kid thing."

He shrugged. "It's my job to be good at the kid thing. And she's a really great kid. Have you thought about schools yet? There's some really good private schools I could suggest."

"Schools?" It hadn't occurred to her that Charlene would have to leave her side once a day for five days a week. "Damn, I have to get her into a new school don't I?" He nodded. "So what are these private schools?"

Cooper opened his mouth to answer her, but his pager went off just then, indicating that there was a medical emergency of some kind. He looked down at the pager and then checked his cell.

"Go," she told him.

"Sorry," he said while standing up.

"Come over tonight and bring food," she told him.

He smiled, his excitement showing through. Even if it was just dinner she was still letting him be a part of her life. He swooped down to plant a kiss on her lips before she could object and then left, catching her shaking her head in surprise.


	10. The Dinner Guest

**Chapter 9: The Dinner Guest**

Violet was in her office, sitting in the closet. She wasn't hiding in it like her one patient had. She was just trying to find a safe place, a peaceful face. She realized that this wouldn't inspire any confidence in her therapy abilities, but she didn't care at the moment. She only had one more patient left for the day.

She hugged her knees closer to her when she heard the click-clack of heels heading into her office. Okay, maybe she was hiding. From her spot she could see Addison staring down at an open file in her hand.

"Violet, do you think you can speak to-." The redhead stopped talking as soon as she realized that Violet wasn't at her desk.

"I'm over here."

Addison turned in the direction of her voice and arched an eyebrow in question. "In the closet?"

She shrugged. "I'm trying something different."

Addison nodded, but the confusion shown through in her eyes. Violet buried her head in her arms, embarrassed at being found this way and the redhead joined her after a few minutes of nothing happening.

She heard Addison grumble as the redhead tried to sit down without her skirt riding up to much.

"You okay?" Addison asked.

She looked up. "No, not really."

The redhead waited for her to elaborate.

"And Cooper's not here. He's never around anymore because of Charlotte. And Pete and Sheldon…well, one of them is the father and I'm going to be a mom and I need…"

"Cooper," Addison said a little surprised.

"Yeah, I need him," Violet agreed.

"No," The redhead said shaking her head. "Cooper's here. Look."

And she did. Standing just outside her office door was a very tired, but very happy Cooper.

"You know," the redhead said as she began to rise. "You can talk to me if you need to. We've never been extremely close, but I'm a good listener. Plus, I know a little something about babies and pregnant women." Addison smiled and then left passing Cooper on the way out. She thought about getting up, but instead waited for Cooper to come over.

He stood in front of her for a second before saying, "Bad day?"

Violet nodded, but didn't look him in the eye. Cooper knew exactly what she needed. He took a seat beside her in the closet and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She sighed and leaned into him.

"So how was your day," she asked.

"Pretty good. I spent the morning with Charlotte and Charlene. We went to the beach and made sand castles. Well, me and Charlene built a sand castle. Although she said it was more of a fortress, but it was still fun. You should see her kid Vi. I think you'd like her. Charlene is so smart. She's nine and she reads Shakespeare and Poe and that guy who wrote the No man is an island, for whom the bell tolls poem."

"John Donne," she said flatly.

"Yeah, that guy. She's incredible and sad, but mostly incredible. You should see Charlotte. She's so good with Charlene. And…" He paused and looked at her. "And how was your day?"

"Not as good as yours." She was about to elaborate, but Cooper was so happy and she didn't want to rain on his parade. "I'm happy for you Coop. You and Charlotte…that's great." She tried to smile, but she just didn't have it in her.

He placed a kiss in her hair and tugged her closer. She missed this.

"So, uh, I'm about to pick up dinner and head over to Charlotte's, but why don't you join us?"

She pulled away from him and when she looked at his face she could tell he was being serious. "I don't think that's a good idea Coop."

"No it's a great idea," Cooper said firmly. "Charlotte is a part of my life too and I would really appreciate if the women I loved didn't try to kill each other."

He gave her the puppy dog eyes and she knew she couldn't say no, but she could still complain.

"Do I have to be nice to her?"

"Yes. I don't understand why you two just can't be friends?"

"Because she's evil and spills secrets, secrets that my best friend just can't keep to himself." She punched him lightly in the arm just for good measure.

"Hey! That hurt, but I guess I deserved that." He paused to rub his arms. "So, you'll come?"

"Coop, I don't know."

"Please, you just have to meet Charlene. Please, Vi. Don't make me beg."

She finally relented and said, "Yes, I'll go eat dinner with Cruella and her cute but probably evil offspring."

Cooper stood up immediately and put a hand out to help her up. "You have to be nicer. She's still grieving. They both are."

She took his hand and was instantly pulled to her feet. "I have a craving for Italian. Pasta, maybe chicken and some tiramisu."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was helping Charlene unpack the boxes that had arrived that afternoon as she Cooper to come with the food. Charlene was excited to have her things back with her again and had immersed herself in the task, but Charlotte was distracted. More like impatient.

Cooper called her from the hospital and told her he just had to stop off at Oceanside before coming over. In her head this was going to be a perfect dinner. She had slipped into something short, red and sexy. They would have dinner and polite conversation and then she would put Charlene to bed and Cooper would stay the night and engage in some very fun, very hot, sex.

Everything was going to be perfect. Perfect that is, until the door bell rang and she opened the door.

She smiled flirtatiously at Cooper and then she looked behind him and she knew her whole night had just been ruined.

"Turner?"

The therapist smiled nervously. "Cooper invited me," Violet said sheepishly.

She let them both in and then shut the door. "Cooper, can I talk to you privately?" She grabbed his wrist and dragged him to the kitchen before he could answer. "What is she doing here," Charlotte hissed.

"I invited her," he said simply.

"You invited her, into my home, without even telling me?" She was absolutely livid now.

Cooper put the food he was carrying on the kitchen table. "I brought Italian."

She glared at him. "Good for you."

"Hey, she's feeling kind of stressed right now with the whole Pete and Sheldon knowing thing. And I'm pretty sure you're the cause of that, so be nice to her. Okay? Maybe try being friends?"

"When hell freezes over," she fired at him.

"Okay so not friends. Can you at least be a decent human being?"

Charlotte pursed her lips, but nodded. "Fine."

"By the way, you look really hot."

0oo0oo0

Charlie paused in her unpacking upon hearing the silence outside of her room. She had heard Cooper come in and then nothing. She wondered if something was wrong so she left her room and ventured out.

She found a lone woman standing by the front door, one she recognized. The woman had been to the house before. Violet she remembered. Cooper had told her the woman was his friend.

Violet spotted her and waved awkwardly to her.

"Hi," she said as she stepped towards Violet. "I'm Charlene."

"I'm Violet. I'm Cooper's friend. I work with him to at the practice. I'm a therapist." Violet smiled at Charlie as she continued to examine the woman.

"Do you want to see my room? All of my things came today."

"Uh…sure."

Charlie placed her small hand in Violet's and led the therapist through the living room, down the hall and to her room. All six of the large boxes that were spread throughout the room had been opened. A few of the boxes contained books. Others contained personal artifacts: pictures, stuffed animals, an ipod, a laptop, a journal, a camera and many, many other things.

"These are my books," Charlene said proudly.

The therapist leaned closer to look at the pile of books she had stacked on the shelves of her desk. On closer inspection Violet found an abnormal psychology book among the nonfiction section. Charlie had organized her books well.

The psyh. book wasn't a textbook. It was something you might find in your average bookstore to amuse the average adult person. It was still safe to say that Violet was still impressed by Charlie's reading prowess.

"Have you read this," the therapist asked her.

"I'm still reading it. I'm on the chapter about dissociative disorders. You know, Amnesia, fugue, DID, depersonalization."

"Yes I do know. I have some more books on this subject that you might be interested in. I could loan them to you if you want?"

Charlie beamed and nodded her head vigorously.

Violet grinned back at her.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte had finally stopped glaring at Cooper in favor of finding Charlene. Cooper followed behind her as she made her way to the guest room, no her daughter's room. She was still having a little trouble remembering that a child lived with her now. At least it was an enjoyable experience.

The door had been left open and she paused just outside of it watching Violet laugh with her daughter. Great, now Violet was taking her daughter away from her as well as Cooper. Her lips twisted in anger as she watched them chat amicably.

"You hate that they get along, don't you?" Cooper said behind her.

She held her tongue on this one. "Dinner time," she announced loudly, before heading back to the dining room. She took her seat, followed by her daughter and Violet. Cooper came in last with food.

0oo0oo0

Once Cooper had served the food and the eating had commenced they fell into an uncomfortable silence. Violet played with her food, oddly not hungry anymore and Charlotte glared down at her dish still resentful to have the therapist in her house.

"So Vi, how was your day," Cooper asked, in an attempt at polite conversation.

"Okay."

After she said nothing else Cooper turned his attention to Charlotte and asked her the same question.

"Fine," she said tersely.

Cooper sighed. "Charlene how was your day?"

Charlene finished chewing her bite of pasta before answering. "I had lots of fun building sand fortresses with you today.

Cooper grinned. "I had fun with you too munchkin."

Charlene wrinkled her little nose in distaste. "I'm not a munckin."

The dinner went semi-smoothly after that. Conversation between Charlene and Cooper flowed nonstop, but Charlotte and Violet stayed silent. He wished he could get those two to talk to each other.

After the dining room had been cleaned up, he asked Charlene to show him her books. His intention was to leave the Charlotte and Violet together. Maybe they would bond or something while he was absent. One could only hope.

0oo0oo

Violet was sitting on Charlotte's pristine white couch nervously wringing her hands as she waited for Cooper to come back from Charlene's room. Charlotte, whose gaze she was trying to avoid, was sitting across from her in an equally white arm chair.

Violet had never even remotely liked the blonde, but here she was sitting, uninvited, in Charlotte's living room.

"I'm sorry," the blonde said suddenly.

Violet startled a little and looked at Charlotte. "W-what?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Everyone knows you're pregnant and that's my fault. I'm sorry, okay?"

Violet nodded her head in acceptance to the blonde's sincere, but irritated apology. She stopped wringing her hands and rested one hand on her stomach, aware that just beneath it was her baby. Her forehead creased as her thoughts became more reflective and after a moment's hesitation she began to gently rub her belly.

Charlotte eyed her suspiciously. "You're not nauseous are you?"

She quickly snatched her head away from her stomach. "Oh…uh, I'm fine."

Charlotte shifted uncomfortably in her armchair. "So have you started planning anything yet? A nursery? Names? Anything?"

"I, um, haven't gotten that far yet. I'm still dealing with…" _The nausea, the fear, the loneliness, my lack of parenting skills and the fact that I don't know who the father of my child is. _"Look, can we not talk about this?"

The blonde let out a huff of laughter. "I thought you liked talkin' and expressin' your feelings, being a therapist and all."

Violet wrapped her arms around herself. "Yeah…well." She lowered her eyes away from Charlotte's critical gaze.

Charlotte noticed her meek behavior. "What's the matter with you? We're not even fighting."

She shrugged her shoulders and said, "I'm just having a bad day."

Charlotte said nothing, but Violet saw a light of recognition and understanding in the blonde's eyes.

"So your daughter is pretty great."

The blonde smiled. "She is isn't she?

"So, how did you get her back?" She asked. She figured if she was ever going to get any information about Charlene it would be from the source. Cooper wouldn't tell her a thing, yet he would tell Charlotte all of her secrets.

"Didn't Cooper tell you everything already?" Charlotte said bitterly.

"No, Charlotte, he didn't tell me anything." She couldn't conceal her annoyance.

The blonde smiled at her smugly.

Violet fought the urge to roll her eyes and focused her gaze on the side table.

"Oh, don't pout Turner."

She huffed, but managed to restrain herself. "Is Cooper going to be out soon?"

"You wanna go home?" Charlotte asked softly.

"Yeah."

Charlotte moved to the edge of her seat and studied her for a moment. "You look tired," the blonde observed. "You'll feel better after a good night's sleep."

0oo0oo0

Cooper could tell Charlene was tired by the way she kept rubbing her eyes. He asked her if she wanted to get ready for bed and she said yes. While Charlene gathered her things and headed towards the bathroom, he peeked down the hall. There was silence in the house and he thought now would be a good time to take Violet home. He made his way to the living room where Charlotte rushed over to him immediately.

"I'm just going to drop her home and then I'll be back," he told her

Violet was already walking towards the front door.

"Wait here a second," Charlotte told him before he could follow after Violet who was now outside.

He stood there waiting for the blonde, feeling a little confused but also curious. When she returned she placed something small and metal into his hand. It was a key to Charlotte's house. His eyes widen in response, like he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing.

"What is this?"

She gave him a funny look. "It's a key."

"Yeah, I know that." He ran a finger along the key's jagged edge.

Charlotte sighed. "Well, it's annoying having to let you in all the time and it'll be late when you come back and if you ring the door bell, you'll wake up Charlene. It's a spare,' she said indifferently. "Keep it."

He looked down at the key in awe.

"Don't keep her waiting Coop. She's pregnant and getting crankier by the minute."

She was smiling at him when he looked back up. He pocketed the key before pulling her in his arms and kissing her with feeling. He tried pour all his love for her in that kiss and he wasn't sure if he got the message across, but the blonde hummed appreciatively.


	11. We Have A Future

**Sorry if this chapter isn't up to par. Personally, I don't feel like this is my best work, but enjoy the chapter awayways. Thanks for reading.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: We Have A Future**

Charlotte was absorbed in the parenting book she was reading. She had gotten half way through it while waiting for Cooper to show up at Pacific Wellness. Today they were going to look at schools for Charlene. She had decided on private school for her daughter and Cooper had agreed with her. She heard someone walk into her office and unglued her eyes from the book to see Cooper coming towards her with a coffee in each hand.

He raised an eyebrow and asked, "Charlotte, what are you doing?" He didn't see her reading books often.

She held up her book. "Learning how to be a good parent."

"How's that working out for you?" He asked while placing one of the coffees onto her desk.

She put the book down and picked up the coffee. "I feel like there has been some adequate improvement."

Cooper watched her sip the coffee and sigh in satisfaction. He liked when she made that sound. "Really? So where is Charlene anyways?"

Her eyes went wide. "Shit!" She couldn't remember where the kid had gone.

He laughed. "Relax, I saw her in the lobby a second ago."

She glared at him and continued to sip her coffee in silence.

"Oh, don't be like that," he pleaded.

"Fine, but you'll have to make it up to me tonight."

He grinned and walked over the other side of the desk to give her a kiss. "With pleasure. Lots and lots of pleasure."

Charlotte pulled away from him after a while. "Now, while I'd love to stay here and enjoy this, we have to get movin', so let's get Charlene and go."

"Charlene's not coming with us."

Charlotte frowned. "Why not?"

"She's not part of the first step of the process," he explained. "First we scope out possible schools. Once we find a few good ones we set up interviews for Charlene and then she goes to them and they decide whether or not to enroll her."

Charlotte stood up and grabbed her purse. "What are we going to do with Charlene?"

"She can stay at Oceanside. The guys are fine watching her and Violet has some books for her." Cooper followed behind her as they made their way to the lobby.

"Oceanside," she said doubtfully. "I don't want her exposed to all of your practice's problems. You guys are all messed up."

"Oh, Oceanside has problems? Well, what about yours? Wyatt left, Sheldon could be the father of Violet's baby and I hear the director of this place is sleeping with a pediatrician from the fifth floor."

She scowled and said, "Let's go then."

To Charlotte's dismay her daughter seemed excited at the prospects of seeing Violet again. How could her little girl like that curly haired nuisance? But to be truthful, after having Violet as a dinner guest a week ago she did feel something like pity for the therapist. Violet did seem miserable.

0oo0oo0

Addison was just passing by the break room when she spotted Pete gazing across the room with a pensive look on his face. She followed his gaze to see Violet waving goodbye to a patient from the lobby.

"Why don't you go and talk to her?" She asked.

Pete startled a little and tore his gaze away from Violet. "Every time I try to talk to her I end up sounding like a jerk."

"Yeah, but…she's needs you to be there for her. That could be your baby she's carrying."

"Look, she didn't want to tell me in the first place. She obviously wanted to handle it on her own."

Addison rolled her eyes. "Yeah, because all pregnant women like to be all alone…" She took another look over at Violet. "And conflicted. Look at her Pete. When was the last time you've seen her really smile?"

Pete sighed. "You're right. I'll talk to her." He looked out at Violet again only to see Cooper strolling in with Charlotte and her daughter. "I guess I'll talk to her later. Cooper's here," he said bitterly.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte stood just inside of Violet's office. She was just about to say goodbye to Charlene and although they would only be apart for a few hours she could help but feel worried. She didn't want Charlene to leave her side. She had spent almost every minute with her daughter over the last few weeks and she would feel weird without her.

"Okay, Charlene is in capable hands, so we are good to go," Cooper announced cheerfully.

"Yeah, good to go," she echoed back hollowly. She said goodbye to Charlene and started to follow after Cooper, but she stopped by the doorway at the last moment.

"Coop I'll meet you at the car okay. I, uh, forgot to tell Charlene something."

He opened his mouth to say something, but thought better of it. He had an idea of what was going on with her. "Kay, see you there."

She nodded and turned back to Violet's office. Charlene was still looking at her with the cutest pout on her lips. Instinctively she opened her arms and Charlene rushed to her and held on tight. She closed her eyes and pressed a kiss into her daughter's soft yellow hair. She opened her eyes a second later suddenly remembering that Violet was still there.

Violet smiled at her, amused with her un-charlottelike behavior. "Separation anxiety," the therapist said quietly.

She let go of Charlene and told her daughter to go to the break room and get a snack.

"See that lady with the red hair? That's Dr. Montgomery. Ask her to take you to the break room. Okay?"

Charlene nodded and ran over to Addison. The redhead smiled warmly at her daughter. _So maybe these Oceanside people aren't so bad._

She turned back to Violet who was still smiling knowingly at her.

"I don't have separation anxiety," she huffed.

"It's okay Charlotte. It's fairly common among new mothers."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "You're a quack with crackpot ideas." Charlotte was never a fan of psychology.

Violet grinned at her this time because she knew she was right about the separation anxiety. Charlotte scowled back at her.

"I'll look after her. Don't worry," Violet said.

"How can I be sure you won't try and eliminate my 'cute but probably evil offspring?' "

The therapist looked at her sheepishly. "Cooper told you that?"

"Yes. I'm sure he's told you a lot about my secrets."

The therapist huffed and turned away from her to look out the window in her office. "I told you Charlotte, he doesn't tell me anything." And then Violet said quietly to herself, "He never tells me anything. He only wants to be with you."

Charlotte cringed internally. She hadn't meant to upset Violet. Honestly, this time it wasn't on purpose.

"You should go," Violet told her. "Cooper's waiting for you."

Charlotte wanted to say something, but they had never gotten along before and they weren't even polite to each other. It would be weird to act like her friend, but she might, just maybe, be warming up to the therapist.

"Thanks for, uh, watching her," She said. Violet didn't respond so she just left.

By the time Charlotte made it to the car Cooper was already strapped into the driver's seat of her hybrid.

"Get out of that seat. I'm driving."

"Uh, uh," Cooper said shaking his head no. "You drive like a maniac. I value my life."

"Well, I value my car." She stared him down until he gave up and slide over to the passenger's side.

"Thank you."

0oo0oo0

Charlie was munching happily on a cookie as Dr. Montgomery and Dr. Bennett talked. She was starting to get her appetite back again and had already devoured apple and other two cookies before this one. The two doctors standing before seemed be arguing about something or someone. They were nice people, but she was getting kind of bored so she wandered down the hall.

She passed a few offices until she came to one that had shelves lined with jars full of strange plants and seeds and things she couldn't identify.

She looked around. No one was there, so she went in. She poked around the shelves, examining the contents of the jars. She dropped down to the ground and sat on her knees to get a better look at the jars on the bottom shelves.

"Hi there."

She jumped at the sound of the voice and turned to see a man standing by the door way.

"Sorry, I shouldn't be in here."

The man smiled at her and he seemed friendly. "Don't worry about it. You're Charlotte's daughter, right?"

"Yeah, Charlene."

"Well, I'm Pete," he said, crouching down next to her. He picked up a jar and handed it to her. She took it hesitantly.

Pete laughed, "Go ahead, open it."

She did and the scent of peppermint assaulted her senses. "It smells like peppermint."

He grinned at her. "Taste it."

She did. "It tastes like peppermint," she said excitedly. "It is!"

0oo0oo0

Violet watched Pete interacting with Charlene. She was a little surprised at how great he was with her. He had the little girl smiling and laughing within the first five minutes of meeting him.

She rubbed her belly affectionately as she watched. She didn't even notice she was doing it. It was almost instinctive now.

_There may be hope for you just yet, Pete._

0oo0oo0

"She's so sad these days," Naomi said to Addison.

"It's the Cooper thing and the Pete and Sheldon thing and the having a baby thing. Well it's a lot of things, but I think she's handling it the best she can," Addison said.

"Yeah," Naomi agreed. She watched her friend stare out at the lobby. Naomi followed her gaze to a group of toddlers playing there. "What's wrong, Addie?"

The redhead tore her eyes away from the lobby. "It's nothing."

"I know you, it's something. Come on you can tell me," she pleaded.

"It's stupid really. I'm just…" Addison sighed. "I'm just jealous."

"Of who?"

Addison sighed and looked back out at the children. "Of Charlotte and Violet and Cooper and Pete. They're all parents or going to be parents and here I am, all dried up and childless."

"Oh Addie." She wrapped her friend up in a hug.

"I can't find the right man and I can't have a baby. Naomi, I'm just…It hurt's my heart." Addison began to sniffle a little and then the tears came and there was nothing she could do to stop them.

Naomi let the redhead cry on her shoulder. What were friends for? Later when Addison was less emotional she would bring up adoption again.

0oo0oo0

"That's it! The last school. Oh thank god," Cooper exclaimed. "I don't think I could go on another tour." He slid into the passenger's side and looked back at the large imposing building in front of him. It was a mansion turned into a large exclusive private school.

"You know, Charlotte, the tuition for some of these schools is pretty steep."

Charlotte looked back at the school. "I can afford it."

"I know, but if…"

She cut him off. "Cooper I…" She closed her mouth and twisted her lips.

"What?" Now he was really interested.

"I'm set. Financially," was all she said.

"Would it be rude if I asked how much money you have?" He felt kind of bad for asking.

"Yes, but I guess I can tell you. You should know that I inherited money from Big Daddy and throughout my life I've also inherited money from other relatives. Granddaddy, Grams, Uncle Rupert, but that's not to say that I haven't made my own money because I have…" She stopped talking once she saw the look he was giving her.

"Are you embarrassed?"

"N-no. Why should I be? I make my own damn money. I'm my own woman. I don't have to depend on anyone for anything," she said heatedly.

"I know that," he said softly. He leaned in and gave her gentle kiss on her cheek. Her skin was so soft. "All you need is me," he said with a grin.

She scoffed, but leaned in to give him a proper kiss on the lips. "Thirty million," she said after.

"Dollars?!" His voice went up an octave. That made Charlotte smile.

"Yep. What, did I hurt your big man ego?" She smiled evilly at him.

"Money doesn't matter." He looked her directly in the eyes as he said this. "Only you and Charlene matter."

Her breath caught and she turned away from him. He watched her silently for a moment and felt the familiar warmth in his soul, the feeling he got every time he looked at her.

"Charlotte, I love you." His words were soft, but full of meaning. He had never actually verbalized his love for her. He was always afraid she would laugh at him and call him a sap or something. Cooper knew she could be harsh like that. She was always guarding her heart, always pushing everyone away. And he knew that part of that was her family's fault and the other part was from being so young and holding such import positions in her practice and at St. Ambrose. Neither of those jobs were easy.

He didn't know exactly what her family had done to her, but he had seen her mother and she didn't look like someone who was capable of taking care of others, let alone herself. Big Daddy, was harsh, mean even. That was all he knew about the deceased man.

Violet had said that she had never learned to self-soothe, she couldn't calm herself to sleep, couldn't find enough peace to let go and drift off. Violet said she had probably never been nurtured as a child and for that he was eternally pissed at her parents.

Charlotte gave him a smile. No, a grin, a big happy Charlotte grin. "I love you too, you big moron."

She could have been nicer, but he accepted it. They fell into a comfortable silence and Cooper focused on the children bursting out of the giant double doors of the mansion/school. There were actually stone gargoyles on the roof of this thing.

He kept his eyes on the kids, but he was itching to look at Charlotte. He figured now would be a good time to ask some serious questions.

"Do you…uh…do you." He squirmed uncomfortably in his chair.

"What Freedman," she asked while raising an eye brow in question. He knew that he was acting strangely.

He pointed to the kids, "I want some of those."

Charlotte laughed. "They're not candy Cooper. So you want kids?"

He nodded vigorously.

"That makes sense seeing as how you're a pediatrician."

Great, she was mocking him. "I've always wanted a big family. I was an only child. It was kind of lonely."

Charlotte nodded. "I've always wanted three kids. Don't know why. Just liked that number I guess. I want another little girl."

"And little boy too," he couldn't help but add.

She smiled softly at him. "Yes, that too." Her brow furrowed. "We'll have to get a bigger house though. Mine's too small for that many people and yours is just disgusting."

"It's a bachelor pad. It's man's house."

"Would it kill you to clean your man bathroom every once in a while?"

"Hey! We can't all be clean freaks like you, with your creepy all white living room. It's so sterile."

She punched him and he pretended that it hurt. "So what about now?"

She looked at him confused and then it hit her. "You wanna move in with me?"

"Eventually. It's just…" He sighed and looked out at the school. "I've been spending almost all of my time at your house with you and Charlene and it's great and you let me be a part of your family. It's just when I have to go home, to my empty man house…don't laugh at me okay?" She would usually make some snide comment when he got all mushy like this. Today she was just understanding.

"Okay."

"I get lonely and I miss you." He turned to look into her eyes but she was looking out the window.

"So, move in then. We'll start moving your things tomorrow. How fast can you put your apartment on the market?"

"It's L.A.," He said. "It'll go fast." He couldn't help, but grin and it took all his will not to do a happy dance in his seat. "And I guess we'll keep an eye out for house in the market?"

Charlotte nodded. This was enough encouragement for him.

"So we'll have to get that settled then and eventually we'll have to talk about some more definite plans like marriage," he said cautiously, "and the baby thing." She opened her mouth to say something. He put a hand up to stop her. "We'll take it one step at a time. Slowly, if you need to."

She nodded silently. She looked like she was panicking.

"I freaked you out, didn't I? Oh god, I freaked you out. I always do that. I'm stupid. I'm an idiot. Stupid, Stupid Cooper." He was freaking out.

Beside him Charlotte burst out laughing.

"What?" He asked.

"You don't know how funny you look right now. Do you always do that? I don't remember you doin' anything like that before."

"Did you ever wonder why I had to meet women on the internet?" He didn't let her answer. "Because I suck at relationships and I always screw up and ruin things."

Charlotte leaned over and kissed him. Her velvety tongue grazed his bottom lip, met with teeth and then finally caressed his mouth. She pulled away from him, eventually, and leaned back in her seat.

"You are perfect. You are everything I have ever wanted in a man and you know how picky I am. You have plans for us and that's great. And I know I've never acted like I wanted to be in this relationship, but I do and I want to be with you. That's just not going to change, so you can call yourself stupid as many time s as you want, really I don't mind, but you're not freaking me out." She paused. "We have a future," she said like she was testing it out.

"We have a future," he repeated after her.


	12. The Perfect Storm

**Chapter 11: The Perfect Storm**

_*Beep*_

Charlotte groaned and slapped a hand over the snooze button her digital alarm clock. She hated Monday mornings.

_*Beep*_

She opened her eyes reluctantly and squinted at the red glaring numbers of her clock. It read wasn't time for her to wake up yet. So the beeping must be something else. She glanced over at Cooper who was still tired from all those school tours and exhausted by the emergency case he had last night. He was sprawled out on the bed next to her, with his work clothes still on.

The beeping, she discovered, was coming from the nightstand on his side the bed. She reached over his sleeping form and picked his cell phone. She flipped it open to see a number of texts from, none other than, Violet.

_God, that woman is so needy._

From the texts she gathered that the curly haired nuisance was dealing with a bout of morning sickness. She rolled her eyes at one text that said, '_I'm queasy Coop. Bring me some soup.'_

She looked over at Cooper again. He had come home only three hours ago, so she decided to be self-sacrificing and let him sleep. It's not like she could fall back to sleep again anyways.

'_Be right over,' _She texted back.

A quick stop at the super market and ten minutes later found Charlotte on the front steps of Violet's Spanish styled house. She raised her hand to knock on the door and then quickly pulled it back. She took a deep breath and knocked this time.

The door opened quicker than she thought it would. She braced herself.

"Cooper!" Violet's face fell when she saw who it was. "Charlotte?"

"Surprise," she said sardonically. "I brought you soup…and some other things."

The therapist just stared at her, all wide eyed.

"You gonna let me in?"

"Uh, s-sure," Violet stammered as she stepped aside.

Charlotte entered and hastily made her way to what she assumed was the dining room. She set her canvas grocery bag on the table. Hey, doctors can go green. She eyed the stacks of psychology texts and journals spread out on the table and nodded in approval. Violet moved past her quietly and slipped into the seat she had previously occupied. An open file sat before her and judging by the many pages of notes and the cups of what she assumed was tea surrounding the file she could tell that Violet had been up all night,

"Cooper had a late night emergency," She explained. "I let him sleep." She picked up the canvas bag again and extended it to Violet. "Here."

Violet took the bag muttering a semi-embarrassed, "thanks," before looking inside. The therapist pawed through the bag with a quizzical expression on her face. "What's all this?"

She sighed and walked over to Violet. She took out the soup, a bunch of bananas, graham crackers, peanut butter, peppermints and some Ginger Ale.

"These will help with the queasiness. Trust me. When I was pregnant with Charlene I lived of this stuff."

Violet gave her a nervous smile and looked into the canvas bag. There was one item left. Violet reached into the bag and pulled out a Hersey's bar.

"Chocolate?"

"It's good for the soul," she said. "Plus it tastes real good. No woman should be without it." Charlotte has a sweet tooth. Cooper can attest to that. Every other night he's just about covered in whipped cream.

Violet grinned at her. "Thanks."

Charlotte actually smiled back. "So…bye then." She reclaimed her canvas bag and started to walk towards the door. Just before she reached for the door knob she heard a tired sigh from the dining room.

Violet wasn't her friend or her responsibility. She didn't have to care. She didn't have to do anything but…

She marched back in and stood in front of the Violet with her hands on her hips. "You've been up all night working."

Violet frowned at her. "No, I-."

"Don't interrupt," she commanded. "You need to rest. All this stress can't be good for the baby."

"Are you finished now?" Violet asked.

"No, but I'll stop now. Clearly nothing is going to get through to you." She huffed and the dropped into the seat next to the therapist.

Violet shrugged and reached for the box of graham crackers. "So, uh, how did the search go yesterday? Find a good school?"

"We've narrowed it down to three schools: Pinecrest Academy, Cardinal Prep and Rosewood."

"Good schools." Violet crunched a cracker noisily.

"That's why I picked them," Charlotte said flippantly. She caught Violet rolling her eyes at her at her haughtiness. Maybe she should try being nicer. "How are you doing?"

Violet raised an eyebrow at her.

"Humor me. I'm trying here."

"You are, aren't you," Violet mused.

"Don't make too much of it. Ain't like we're friends now."

Violet made some sort of noncommittal noise and opened the text nearest to her. A signal that she should take her leave now, but she felt something niggle in the back of her mind. Something she should tell Violet. A second later she knew exactly what that was.

"Listen Violet, Cooper probably hasn't had a chance to tell you, but…"

Violet put the book aside, suddenly interested again.

"Cooper… he's gonna move in with me pretty soon."

"Move in with you?" Violet asked, like she couldn't understand what was being said. Silence took over and the words began to sink in. She hoped Violet wouldn't cry. She couldn't stand tears. She had to do something to fix this.

"The door is open for you," she blurted out.

"What?"

"What I mean is…you're welcome to come over whenever you want." She stood and took one last look at the stunned therapist. "Our door is always open for you," she said before leaving.

0oo0oo

Cooper awoke to an empty bed and the sound of thunder crashing in the distant. He rubbed his tired eyes and looked around the room. Charlotte was gone. The short silky black nightgown he had found her sleeping in last night lay draped across the navy blue arm chair by the window and the lab coat that usually lay there was gone.

He got up slowly and stretched his limbs after hours and hours of uninterrupted sleep. He didn't have to go in to work today. The plan was to start moving in, but he had assumed that Charlotte would help him. He sighed and made his way to the kitchen where he found a note written in Charlotte's neat, meticulous handwriting.

_Went to work. Will be back to help you move in later._

_Make sure Charlene eats._

_-Charlotte_

He pocketed the note and went to Charlene's room to see that the girl was still sleeping. He grinned when he saw the book clutched in her hands like a teddy bear. He had decided that she was the perfect little girl. He was jealous of who ever had fathered this perfect little angel and wished that he had been the one. She looked so much like her mother and he knew she would be so beautiful when she grew up

A clatter of thunder shook the house and the little girl whimpered in her sleep and stirred uncomfortably. He immediately rushed to her bedside and stroked her hair until she had calmed down.

"Cooper?" Charlene mumbled sleepily.

"I'm here," he told her softly.

She opened her green eyes and peeked at him before closing them again and drifting back to sleep.

At least for now, he could pretend she was his.

0oo0oo0

It was just a few hours after Charlotte had left when Violet's doorbell rung. No longer queasy, she stood and answered the door. She winced when a crack of thunder followed by a flash of lighting reverberated throughout her house.

When she opened the door a splash of water hit her in the face. It was raining so hard, she could hardly make out what was in front of her.

"Can I come in?"

It was Pete.

"Sure," she yelled over the raging storm.

He entered and stood by the doorway, dripping cold rainwater onto the ground. He looked unsure of himself.

She rushed to the bathroom and got him a towel to dry himself off.

"The weather's terrible," Pete said as he toweled off his hair. "Naomi closed the practice for the day. The storm warnings freaked her out."

"Oh." It was her day off so she wouldn't have known. She led him to the dining room where she was still camped out. Food and files everywhere.

Pete pointed at the food on the table. "Cooper was here?"

"Charlotte, actually."

Pete gave her a funny look, like he didn't believe her.

"No really, she was. She was filling in for Cooper."

Pete frowned. He was supposed to be doing this stuff. Bringing her food and checking up on her. After all Cooper wasn't the one who slept with her. "Don't you guys hate each other," he said instead.

She shrugged. "She has her moments."

"I like her kid," he offered.

"She's such a cutie, isn't she? Makes me wish this kid would hurry up and come out already," she said while affectionately patting her stomach. She was surprised that she actually meant what she had said.

Pete smiled at her and for a second she thought everything was going to be okay.

"Why are you here?" She asked suddenly.

He shrugged and then stepped closer to her. "Just wanted to see how you were doing." He stepped even closer and his lips brushed against hers and his arms wrapped around her now shaking body. "I thought you'd be scared…of the storm." What he wanted to say was… _scared_ _of being alone._

0oo0oo0

Addison was standing just outside of the newborn extension of St. Ambrose. She peered through the glass and looked inside the nursery to see rows and rows of cute little newborns. She was particularly fond of the little girl in the front row, who was flailing her cubby little arms around.

Oceanside was closed for the day and this was what she had been doing for the past hour and a half. It was quiet here. Only a few doctors and nurses passed by behind her and parents were periodically signing in to visit their newborns.

"What are you doing here Montgomery? Gotta patient?"

She turned around to see the fiery little southern blonde that is Charlotte King.

"No, no patients," she said quietly, while turning back to the newborns.

Charlotte sighed tiredly behind her and then was beside her in a second, staring at the newborns too.

"Oh, would you stop moping in my hospital. What's the matter with you?" the blonde asked sharply.

Addison arched an eyebrow. "You really want to know?"

"Not really, but the way you're staring at these babies makes me worry for their safety."

Addison actually laughed at his. "I want a baby," she said after.

"Then have one," the blonde said, as if she was an idiot.

"I can't," she said miserably. "I'm all dried up. I waited too long and now I don't get my family.

Charlotte stayed silent beside her and then the blonde reached over and gave her shoulder a comforting squeeze. "There are other options: Adoption, being a foster parent…"

"Adoption is complicated. It takes too long and babies go to couples not desperate, single women. And I don't think I could be a foster parent."

"Why not?" The blonde asked. "Everyone needs someone Montgomery, 'specially kids." Charlotte shrugged. "It's worth a try isn't it?"

Charlotte's pager went off suddenly. The blonde checked the little device, swore a few times and then was gone.

Addison watched the Chief of Staff leave._ I could try fostering._

0oo0oo0

By the time Charlotte got to the emergency room of her hospital, triage protocol was already taking place. It turns out that a small fire turned into a large one at the birthday party of one very wealthy little boy. Waiters, cooks and entertainers were all waiting for treatment as well as the party guests.

"Oh, geez. What happened?"

"Fire," she said as she turned to face the person. It was Cooper.

"The birthday boy is my patient," he told her.

She nodded just as a group of three clowns passed by them. She shuddered. She couldn't stand clowns.

"What the hell are a bunch of clowns doing in my hospital?" she said aloud.

"Oh good," Cooper said beside her. "You see them too. For a second I thought I was going crazy."

"Shut up," she snapped. Now was not the time for joking. "Where's Charlene," she said more urgently.

"Addison was wondering around the hospital. She's looking after our munchkin," he explained.

Charlotte smirked at Cooper's slipup. _Our munchkin._ It kind of made her happy that Cooper thought of her daughter as his own.

0oo0oo0

The storm was still going on and Violet was curled up beside Pete asleep. Pete, on the other hand was wide awake. The sex with Violet had been great. It always was, but being in her room, surrounded by reminders of the fact that he could possibly be a father soon made him uneasy.

A book entitled, _What to Expect When You're Expecting, _lay on her bedside table, a box of unsalted crackers was pushed under her bed and a stack of magazines catering to pregnant women (probably bought by Cooper) was sitting on the dresser.

Suddenly it was all too much for him. He was never good at relationships. He could never make his wife happy when she was alive, so how was he supposed to make Violet happy and be a good father? He disentangled himself from the sleeping beauty and slipped out of bed to grab his clothes off the ground.

"Pete?" Violet asked just as he was putting on his pants.

He buckled his belt and slipped on his shirt. "I'm sorry Violet."

Violet covered herself with the sheet, suddenly ashamed. "What's wrong? Where are you going?" Her voice cracked on the last word.

"I'm sorry. I thought I could do this, but I can't." He walked out of her bedroom, but he could still hear her.

"Pete! Pete!"

He paused by the front door and from the silence now emanating from her room he could tell she was crying.

_I'm sorry._


	13. When Lightening Strikes

**Chapter 12 When Lightening Strikes**

Charlotte was watching the storm through her bedroom window. The lights were off and her daughter was cradled against her body. Charlene's little eyes were finally shut after a sugar rush caused by Montgomery and her ice cream treats.

She stroked the little girl's hair and watched the blue lightening flash against the dark sky. She was waiting for Cooper to come back with his clothes. That's what he decided was the most useful thing to bring over first. Now she wished she hadn't let him go. The storm was just awful.

Suddenly, a pounding noise that sounded vaguely like thunder assaulted her ears. She realized after a few seconds that it was someone at her door. Quickly and without disturbing Charlene, she slipped out of the bed and made her way to the front of her house. She had thought it was Cooper at first, but he had been using the key since she gave it to him.

The knocking became more persistent and she found herself becoming slightly annoyed at this late night visitor.

"Hold your horses! I'm comin'."

She opened the door and the wind forced it back. The door banged against the wall and moved back and forth with the wind. She steadied it with both hands and squinted through the dark to see Violet on her front steps, drenched with rain and shivering.

"Violet?" she asked uncertainly.

"C-can I come in?" Violet shivered and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Yeah, sure." When Violet didn't move she frowned. "Well, come on. You'll catch your death out there."

The therapist nodded and stepped past her silently. On closer inspection she could see that those wet tracks on Violet's face were from tears not rain drops.

"I-is Cooper here?" Violet shivered again.

"He'll come soon. Let's get you into some dry clothes. You're making a mess on my floor."

Violet nodded.

She began to lead the Violet to the other guest room, the one right across from her bedroom, but the therapist wasn't following. She turned around to see Violet still in the front hall, clutching her arms to herself, dripping wet and staring at the floor.

"Violet," she said softly. "Come on." It was the same gentle tone she used with Charlene sometimes. Violet looked at her this time and followed behind her silently.

In the guest room Charlotte handed Violet a towel and a clean pair of old scrubs she sometimes used as pajamas. The scrubs got a small smile out of Violet.

"Now you just get under the covers and I'll get you some…tea." Charlotte cringed inside. She was not used to being nice, especially to someone who is…or used to be her mortal enemy. She made a quick exit and turned on the electric kettle in the kitchen. As the water boiled she pulled out her cell and dialed Cooper's number.

"Hey Char, I'm almost done here."

"Well, that's great, but…ah…Violet's here and I'm pretty sure she's cryin' and though it pains me to say this, she really does need you."

She heard him sigh. "What happened?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know," he asked disbelievingly. "Didn't you ask?"

"No. I'm not good at this." She huffed. "She's _your_ friend."

"Our friend," he corrected. "We live together now. We share everything. It's the moving in rule."

"That's not a real rule," she grumbled. The water finished heating up and she quickly put together a cup of tea.

"I'm going to be there soon. Just talk to her till I get there. Love you. Bye."

"Cooper, wait I-." He was already gone and the tea was already made. She might as well see what she could do about Violet.

0oo0oo0

Violet was curled up under the blankets. It felt weird being here, in her house. Now it was Cooper's house too. How could everything change so quickly?

Pete._ Why did he leave?_ She was heartbroken. They had a spark of a relationship before she had found out she was pregnant and this evening when he came to her she thought it could work. Them being together. He had been so caring, so gentle…

There was a knock at the door and she swiped a hand under her eyes in an attempt remove any tears that still clung to her cheeks.

"I brought you some tea," Charlotte said.

Charlotte set the tea on the nightstand and then looked at her expectantly. An apprehensive look crossed the blonde's face when all Violet did was look at the cup. She picked up the cup and sipped the tea.

After a few seconds Charlotte sat on the edge of her bed. "What happened?" Charlotte asked quietly.

Her lip quivered and she felt like she was going to cry again. "I slept with Pete," she said in a rush of words.

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "I know that. That's how you got pregnant in the first place."

She put the tea down. "No, I slept with him today. He came over after you left and he was so kind and then he kissed me and I kissed him and then-."

Charlotte put a hand up. "I don't need any visuals. So you slept with him, then what?"

"He left and he said that he was sorry, but he couldn't do this." She flopped back down on the bed. "I thought," she whispered. "I thought that maybe he…" Her face crumpled and tears spilled down her cheeks.

"He loved you," Charlotte finished for her.

She nodded. "I'm tired."

"Go to sleep then," the blonde told her. She may have been going crazy, but Charlotte's southern accent sounded kind of comforting just then.

She closed her eyes and stayed still as Charlotte pulled the covers up to her chin.

"Goodnight Violet."

0oo0oo0

Charlie had fallen into a fitful sleep as soon as her momma had left. In her dream, though she didn't know that it was a dream, she could see Granddaddy in front of her. She called out to him, but he took off in the opposite direction and she chased after him.

Since she didn't know it was a dream, her body didn't either. In the world outside of the dream she had climbed off the bed and navigated herself to the back door. She opened it in her sleeping state and walked out into the middle of a violent raging storm.

No one noticed that she had left. No one knew that she was a sleepwalker.

0oo0oo0

When Cooper came home the house was dark and colder than it had been before he left. He dragged his two heavy and now wet suitcases into the house. He had more in the car, but he decided he would go back for them later. He squinted in the dark, making out the outlines of furniture and nothing else.

"Electricity went out," said tired southern voice. A flash of lightning. Charlotte was standing in front of him.

He jumped and clutched his heart. "Shit!" Had she been standing there the whole time?

"She's sleeping." He assumed she was talking about Violet.

"Yeah," he said stepping closer to her. He didn't like being blind. Lost in the dark. He reached out and gripped her forearm. He felt better now.

"Scared of the dark?" she asked with a wicked smile. The lightning flashed again casting Charlotte in a sinister light.

"I-I don't know." He shook his head and backed away. "I don't like storms, I guess." He took another step back, but Charlotte's hand grabbed his and their fingers entwined. He looked down at their clasped hands. Her small dainty one in his large one. He felt safe now.

She smirked. "Didn't know you were such a baby."

Cooper grinned at her and then jumped as a crack of thunder permeated the stillness of the house. She jumped too. "Who's the baby now?"

Even in the dark he could see Charlotte rolling her eyes. "Go see Violet. She's in the other guest room."

He let go of her hand reluctantly and did as Charlotte commanded. In the guest room he found Violet curled up in a little ball. He wondered how Violet had known to come here. He hadn't told her that he was moving in with Charlotte. And what's even stranger was that Charlotte let Violet stay in her house. Didn't they hate each other?

"Cooper?" Violet said sleepily.

He climbed onto the bed and made himself comfortable. Violet instantly moved closer to him and rested her head on his chest. "What happened," he asked while stroking her wild curls.

And she told him. Somewhere along the way the tears started again and he was just waiting for her to gain control of her voice.

"I hate him," Violet finally said.

"No you don't."

She sighed. "It's even worse. I think I love him." She sniffled. "But he obviously doesn't love me back." She started to cry again. Her body wracked with sobs and Cooper could feel her shaking with emotional pain.

"Oh, Vi, it'll be okay. Shh. Everything's going to fine."

"Not it won't. I'm pregnant Cooper and I'm alone! Nothing is ever going to be okay."

"No, it will. I promise. I'll find a way to make it better."

She didn't respond.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was panicking. Actually she was more than panicking, she was freaking out. She couldn't find Charlene anywhere. She searched in every room and then she went on to the kitchen and found the back door open. The wind banged it against the wall and the rain splattered against the kitchen tile.

_Why would she go out in the middle of a storm?_

She had to find Charlene. She could get hurt out there or worse. She closed her eyes tight for a moment and tried not to be so scared. She couldn't lose Charlene again. She rushed to the room where Cooper and Violet were currently occupying and threw open the door.

They were cuddle up together and that made her mad as hell, but it wasn't important right now.

"She's gone! Charlene's gone out into the storm!" She yelled. She ran out and slipped on a pair of sneakers before going out the back door. She was vaguely aware of Cooper following behind her.

Thunder clashed, rain pelted into her eyes and the wind ripped across her face. The lightening kept flashing and she kept running. She ran past a few houses and then across a grassy field saturated with water. Mud got onto her shoes and clothes, but she neither cared nor noticed. She could see someone standing under a tree in the distance.

"There she is!" Cooper yelled behind her. She could barely hear him.

She was almost there now. Something like relief filled her body and then the unthinkable happened. Lightening flew down from the sky and stuck the tree her little girl was standing under. There was a crash and a splintering of wood and she gasped when the old oak caught on fire. An instant cloud of smoke formed and obscured both the tree and her daughter from view.

"No!" She cried and then ran even faster. "Charlene! Charlene!"

_Be okay. Be okay. Please baby, be okay._


	14. The Calm After The Storm

**Chapter 13: The Calm After The Storm**

Charlie saw the lightening before it hit, but it was much too quick for her. The lightning struck and it sounded and felt like the tree exploded. A large branch threw her down and pinned her down to the ground by her wrist. Another hit her head and after that everything went black.

0oo0oo0

By the time Charlotte reached Charlene the fire had grown exponentially and a small pile of wood was covering her daughter's body. Charlotte feared the worse. She always did and she had reason too. Her life had been a series of fallouts followed by a string of bad luck. Getting Charlene back had been a godsend and nothing was going to take this little girl away from her.

She knelt down next to her daughter, not caring for the scorching fire or the thick smoke, and started to remove all of the branches and splintered wood. She hardly noticed Cooper beside her doing the same. Once the wood was cleared, they gently moved the little girl away from the tree.

She slipped into doctor mode, the only mode that allowed her to be in control of everything, and felt for a pulse.

"She's breathing and her pulse is strong."

"Possible concussion," Cooper assessed from beside her. "Charlene, honey, stay with us now."

Charlotte peered closer at her the little girl. Her eyes were fluttering open.

"Charlie," she said loudly over the crackle of the fire. "Can you tell me where it hurts?"

The little girl's eyes closed again, but she was conscious at least. Charlotte felt along the little girl's ribs, applying pressure when necessary. Nothing seemed to be broken there. She checked the rest of Charlene's body.

"Her wrist is either badly bruised or broken," She said.

"Probably just a hairline fracture," Cooper murmured. He let out a sigh of relief and tugged Charlotte into his arms. They heard sirens in the background.

"She's going to be okay Char."

0oo0oo0

"Can it be purple Cooper?"

He smiled at Charlene. The little girl was up and smiling. She had walked away from the accident with a broken wrist, which would heal within two weeks, a mild concussion and few scrapes and bruises.

"Yes, your cast can be purple." Charlene grinned at him again, like the accident had never happened. If they had lost her he didn't know what they would have done. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "No more sleepwalking, okay."

"I promise." The little girl paused and then asked, "Can we go home soon?"

They had been there for a little over five hours. It was almost the next day now. He had sent Charlotte to her office to "watch Violet." In reality it would be Violet keeping an eye on his girlfriend.

"Once I finish this up, we'll all go home and get a good rest. You'll just have to take it easy for the next few days."

"I can do that, but there'll have to be ice cream. Granddaddy always got me ice cream whenever I was sick or hurt."

He put the finishing touches on the cast and frowned when he noticed the familiar look of melancholy replacing the smile on Charlene's face.

"Your really loved your granddaddy didn't you," he asked sympathetically.

"He was the best," she said brightly.

0oo0oo0

And while Charlene was thinking nice happy thoughts about her grandfather, Charlotte was dreaming about a not so happy memory of Big Daddy. She had somehow fallen asleep at her desk with the annoying Cooper cuddling therapist still in the room.

_She had come home from John Hopkins, med school, about a week ago for Christmas break .She was three months pregnant and not one soul knew her secret. She wanted it to stay that way, but she knew it wouldn't. Big Daddy would find out eventually when he paid for all of her doctor's appointments._

_She sighed and paced her room once more. She had to do it now, while she still had the courage. She strode over to his office on the other side of the house and opened the solid oak door._

_ Momma was there too, but if Big Daddy knew what would it matter if she knew too?_

_She stood in front of his desk and waited for them to stop talking._

_"Yes, Charlie?" Big Daddy said, finally looking at her._

_She said nothing for an entire minute, but Big Daddy got the sense that what she had to say would be important and stood up. Then finally she said it._

_"I'm pregnant."_

_Nothing happened at first and then…he slapped her. Her cheek stung and the force of the blow sent her to the ground._

_"Pregnant?" He yelled. "I send you to a top medical school and you get knocked up. After all I've done for you…" He raised his hand again. She bent over and wrapped her arms protectively over stomach._

_"Jacob don't! You'll hurt the baby," her Momma yelled._

_Big Daddy lowered his hand. "I didn't spend all this money on your education for you to end up being a whore." And with the slam of the door he was gone._

She was shaken awake by Violet. She glared at the therapist and pushed her away.

"I was tryin' to sleep!"

Violet shrugged her shoulders. "Well it looked like you were having a bad dream."

Charlotte stayed silent and Violet took a seat in the chair across from her, on the other side of the desk. She watched Violet rub her stomach with a faraway look on her face.

"Thanks for taking me in tonight," Violet finally said.

"Thanks for calling an ambulance," she countered.

Charlotte thought back to when Cooper had been cuddling Violet, comforting her. She knew they were best friends, but she didn't like that his best friend was a woman. Wasn't there a cliché where best friends fall for each other?

"I wish you were a man," she said out loud.

"Excuse me?"

"You and Cooper. I don't like you two bein' close and all."

0oo0oo0

Violet was just a little confused at first.

"Oh," Violet said, realizing what Charlotte was getting at. "You think me and Cooper…that we like each other…" She was struggling to find the words. "That we would be involved romantically?"

Charlotte gave her a sharp nod.

She laughed out loud at this and then doubled over when she couldn't stop. "Charlotte, we could never be like that. We're friends. We're close because we support each other and because we care, but it will never evolve into anything else. Besides I want Pete," she said stubbornly.

The blonde smiled at her. "Good."

There was a knock at the door and Cooper came in with Charlene cradled in his arms.

"The painkillers kicked in," he whispered. "Time to go home."

She watched Charlotte cross the room and kiss her little girl and then Cooper. Cooper and Charlotte were already a family she surmised.

"Well are you comin' or not," Charlotte asked her.

Violet hadn't planned on being invited back to the house.

"I'm coming," she said as she followed them out of the hospital. She paused just before they reached the car. She finally realized something. "Hey, it stopped raining."


	15. Something to Celebrate

**Chapter Fourteen: Something to Celebrate**

It was just a few hours before Charlie's interview with the Rosewood Academy's Headmaster. Only three days had passed after the accident, but she had recovered remarkably fast.

Charlotte had already laid out the prefect outfit for her to wear. A navy blue pleated skirt and a crisp white blouse. Charlie had protested against wearing such boring and uncomfortable clothes, but Charlotte just scoffed at her and said, "You have to dress for success."

She stood in front of the bathroom mirror, pulling at the scratchy collar of her shirt with her purple casted wrist. Charlie did not want to go to the interview because she did not want to go back to school. She was always teased and bullied there. Her tiny stature and tendency to correct other children's grammar made her a prime target for bullying.

She sighed and pulled a combed through her hair. Her momma's face appeared above hers in the mirror.

"Don't you look just darling in that," Charlotte cooed.

She paused her brushing and looked up at Charlotte. It was a phrase her grandmomma used to use.

"What," Charlotte asked her.

"Nothing." She was feeling a little homesick now.

0oo0oo0

They were sitting in the car watching mother's drop their children off to school. Charlie liked how each mother would hug their child and say, 'I love you,' before sending them off.

Turning in her seat she gave Charlotte a questioning look.

Charlotte slipped her sunglasses down her nose to look at her daughter. "What?"

"How come you never say you love me?"

"Cause you already know I do."

Charlene frowned. "No I don't. You were never there and then suddenly you were. Did you not love me then?" She lowered her eyes not wanting to see her momma's face.

"I loved you then and I love you now. There ain't do doubt about it. Now stop your frettin'. We've got an interview to do."

"Okay," she said quietly.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was sitting in the waiting room just outside the headmaster's office. Everything here was big and impressive and reminded her a lot of an old fashioned boarding school. Her daughter had been in there for at least an hour and she wasn't sure if it was a good thing.

She yawned loudly. She hadn't been sleeping very well these last few days. She would dream about her past, about Big Daddy. Every night was a nightmare and when she woke up from them she found it impossible to go back to sleep. But she was dealing. It's not like she hadn't had insomnia before. It would pass. Eventually.

She checked her cell phone one more time and then put it back into her purse. Somehow, both St. Ambrose and the practice were running without her, but she still couldn't stifle the worry that always arose when she was away from her beloved work.

Her cell phone rand just seconds after she put it away. She knew it was Cooper instantly without having to look at the caller ID.

"She's not done yet," she said flatly into the phone.

"Charlotte -."

She cut him off. "Can you call back later?"

"Charlotte, wait! Did you see the news today?"

"Does it look like I have time to do something as trivial as watching the news?"

"Rachel's dead," he blurted.

"What?"

"Charlene's adoptive mother, she's dead."

"Yeah, I heard that part." She sighed and looked towards the headmaster's door. "What happened?"

"Accidental drowning." He paused. "She was drunk Char."

"Shit."

"What are you going to do?"

"Tell her, I guess."

"Your mother identified the body."

She laughed bitterly. "She was sober enough to do that?"

"Charlotte," Cooper chided. "Oh and…well you should know….that, uh…"

"You gonna say somethin'?"

"My parents…"

"What about them," she said tersely.

"They're coming and I would really like you to meet them."

"Hmm."

"So you'll meet them," he said quickly. "Good. I gotta go, but I'll see you at lunch okay? Love you. Bye."

"Wait, I didn't say I'd meet them." Too, late. He had already hung up.

0oo0oo0

Addison was installing safety locks on her kitchen cabinets when Sam popped by.

"Addison, what are you doing?"

She looked up to see him standing at the entrance of the room before returning to the task at hand. "Childproofing the house." Duh.

"May I ask why?"

"The social worker is coming today."

His forehead creased in confusion. "Social worker?"

"Didn't Naomi tell you?"

"Uh…we're not really talking right now."

Addison put down her screw driver and gave him her full attention.

"It shouldn't bother me," he told her. "We're divorced. It shouldn't matter anymore." He looked over at her right. "Right?"

She shrugged her shoulders and stood up to put away her tools. The job was done and her house was officially safe for children to play in.

"Well, it shouldn't," he mumbled. "It just shouldn't." He shook his head to clear his head and then said, "So, the social worker thing. Are you adopting?"

She reached into the fridge and grabbed a cold bottle of water before answering. "Fostering."

"Fostering?"

"Well I want kids, but I can't have them, so this is what I'm doing to make my dream come true."

Sam smiled at her. "That sounds like a good plan. Make your own dream come true. Hey do you mind if I use that in my next book?"

0oo0oo0

Violet eyed Cooper's coffee jealously before taking a sip on yet another cup of herbal tea. She was starting to get sick of the stuff and she really, really needed a caffeine kick right about now.

"Stop glaring at my coffee," Cooper said beside her.

"I can't help it. It's the hormones Coop."

"You can't blame everything on hormones Vi."

They both went silent as Pete walked into the break room. He didn't make eye contact with either of them. Cooper shifted uncomfortablely and she left the room. Things between her and Pete were just plain bad. They hadn't talked since the storm and she was no longer all sad and weepy about him leaving her. She was downright mad, livid actually.

She marched to her office and closed the door with a little more force than she usually would.

_I hate him. I hate him. I hate him._

She thought that if she told herself that enough times that it would come true. So far it hadn't, but felt so much better than mourning the loss of love.

_I hate him. I hate him. I…love him._

0oo0oo0

"Dr. King, I don't know if you realize this, but your daughter is gifted."

"Gifted?" Charlotte questioned.

Headmaster Milton nodded and continued. "She had perfect scores on our reading and comprehension tests as well as the mathematics test."

_So that's what they've been doing in here._

"If you enter her into our gifted students program we could have her going to any college of her choice by fourteen or fifteen, maybe even earlier." Charlotte could tell the man was getting excited now. "Your daughter would be a perfect fit for this school."

"Well, thank you. We'll take what you said in consideration while we continue searching for a school."

"Searching?" The headmaster asked.

Charlotte arched an eyebrow. "We have two other interviews lined up for this week."

"But our program is perfect for her: One-on-one time with teachers, accelerated course tailored to her needs…"

"Thank you, but I really have to go…" Charlotte stood from her seat and made to leave. Just as she reached for the doorknob the doorknob spoke again.

"Full scholarship!"

She turned around at that. "Excuse me?"

Headmaster Milton was nearly out of his seat. "She qualifies for a full scholarship if she comes here."

She smiled at him and politely said, "I'll take that into consideration.

0oo0oo

The work day had ended and Cooper and he was at Violet's house, trying his hardest to cheer her up. He had been unsuccessfully trying to do this task for the last three days.

"Do you want to watch a movie" Cooper asked.

"No."

"How about some takeout?"

"No."

"Board game?"

"No! God, Coop just go home. I'm fine," Violet insisted.

He looked over at his brooding friend who was curled up on her big purple arm chair. They usually sat together on the couch, but not today. Violet was just plain depressed. Even her patients had noticed.

"I'll go home, but you're coming with me. You're really worrying me Vi."

"I'm not going anywhere."

Despite her stubborn protests Cooper got her into the car eventually. She stayed silent on the car ride there, clearly indicating that she was going to be giving him the cold shoulder during her visit.

He drove into the drive way and as soon as he put the car into park Violet shot out of the car. He sighed and followed after her. Charlene came bounding up to them, excited over something she had read in one of Violet's psychology texts. He cringed internally when he realized Charlene's day would be ruined when she heard the news about her adoptive mother. He hugged the little girl and then let her chat animatedly with Violet.

Charlotte came sauntering out not long after and gave him a kiss. The blonde eyed Violet, but said nothing. His girlfriend and his best friend seemed to be on better terms these days.

He followed Charlotte to their room and watched her sit on the bed and carefully smoothed out the wrinkles on duvet.

"They're staying at a hotel," the blonde said suddenly.

"What?"

"Your parents are staying in a hotel when they come to visit." She gave him a wry smile. "I have to warn you though, I'm not a people person."

He chuckled at that and then joined her on the bed. "How was the interview?"

"She's gifted. Perfect scores on those tests they gave her."

"That's good."

"She got a full scholarship."

"She did? Oh, that's great," he exclaimed as he swept her up into a hug. When he did this he felt her body stiffen against his. He pulled away asking, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she said.

He knew not to push her.

"Will you take Charlene out of the house for a little bit? I need …some quiet."

Her eyes were trained on the duvet, but he knew they were probably brimming with emotion. She never liked to look him in the eyes when she was open and unguarded. He knew she hadn't been sleeping well. He had felt her wake up with a start for the last few nights and when she couldn't go back to sleep she would just walk the halls. He wished he could do something more.

"I'll take her for some ice cream," he said as he stood up from the bed. "Why don't you take a nap? It'll do you some good…and, uh, Violet's going to stay the night."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte waited till Cooper left to venture out into the living room. She wasn't going to be able to sleep and she really didn't want to try anyways.

She found the melancholy therapist sitting on her couch staring into space. She took a seat next to her, but Violet didn't bother to look her way.

"So," she said. "How's your week going?"

"Fine. Yours?"

"Peachy Keen," Charlotte said sharply as she remembered she still had to call her Momma to confirm Rachel's death.

Violet finally looked over. "You want to talk," the therapist asked.

"Do you?" She shot back.

Violet shook her head and returned to staring into space.

"Can you take me home," Violet asked her after a while.

Cooper had brought the therapist here so that they could keep an eye her. She thought it was a good idea. The woman was practically a zombie. Violet didn't smile, didn't laugh, kept to herself and rarely talked to others anymore.

"I think it's best if you stay here," she found herself saying.

Violet frowned at her and then got up. "I'm going to sleep."

Charlotte nodded as she watched Violet disappear down the hallway. It was odd feeling, but she wished she could do something more to help ease Violet's pain. She sighed instead and went into the kitchen to grab the phone. She might as well call Momma since she had the time.

The phone rang a few times before someone picked up.

"Hello?" It was Landry.

She paused for a little bit shocked that she was hearing her brother and not her mother.

"Landry! It's Charlotte."

Silence.

"Don't hang up. Please," she added.

"I'm sorry Charlotte. Don't call anymore."

"I don't understand why you're freezing me out like this. It wasn't my decision."

Her brother sighed. "You lied to us Charlotte and you betrayed us by bringing her to the reading of the will. That child is not a real King."

She scoffed, "Not a real King? She's my daughter!"

"She's a bastard. Don't shame our family anymore Charlotte. Stop calling. Bye."

She slammed the phone back in its cradle and stomped into the living room to find the picture of her family that was sitting on her side table. She studied it for a bit. Fake smiles plastered on their faces. They were never a happy family, but they were a family.

And now they were shunning. She could feel the anger building up in her chest and gripped the frame harder.

She hated them right now. Charlene was as much a real King as their daughters.

On an impulse she threw the frame with its picture into the fireplace. It shattered on impact. Glass cracking, wood splintering. It felt good.

"Fuck you Landry."

She wanted to light a fire, but she thought that might be over kill. She finally settled on glaring at the frame remains.

"Are you okay?" She jumped at the sound of Violet's voice. The therapist had apparently changed her mind about sleeping.

She shook her head no. She let herself get too emotional. If she opened her mouth to speak, all that would come out was a strangled sob.

"Let me guess. You don't want to talk right?" Violet asked with a sad smile on her lips.

She nodded again and then collapsed on the couch. "Sit with me," she said.

Violet obliged.

0oo0oo0

Violet studied the Charlotte silently. The blonde kept everything bottled up inside. There were so many emotions in that petite body. She didn't know whether Charlotte would explode with anger or crumple up in grief.

"I'm going to hug you now," she heard herself saying.

Charlotte didn't responded, but she took it as a sign to go ahead with it. She leaned closer and enveloped the blonde in a hug. She felt Charlotte stiffen on contact and then slowly relax. Finally the blonde rested her head against her shoulder.

"Thank you," Charlotte murmured.

"What are friends for?"

0oo0oo0

An hour or so had passed since Charlotte had called home and half an hour had passed since Violet went to the guest room to turn in early for the night. She heard Cooper's car pulling in the drive way and stood by the window to watch.

They looked happy, especially Charlene. Because of this she decided that she would put off telling Charlene the terrible news about her adoptive mother. Why ruin a perfectly good day for the girl?

Cooper had of course brought food for them and passed her in favor of getting rid of the load. Charlene stood just inside the doorway, watching her with a curious look in her green eyes.

"What's wrong Momma?" The little girl asked her.

She smiled. Charlene had never called her Momma before. It was always just Charlotte, but of course that's what she told the child to call her.

Charlene blushed. "I'm sorry. I called you-."

She cut the girl off by sweeping her up in a hug. "Don't be sorry." She paused remembering what Charlene had asked her this morning. "I love you."

Charlene's small arms tightened around her. "I love you too."

0oo0oo0

Around midnight Charlotte and Cooper were both in bed, but neither of them were asleep. Charlotte was thinking about Cooper, which was something she actually did a lot of these days, or rather these nights.

He was perfect. She wasn't, but he didn't seem to care. This was the good kind of love she decided. She had never really had it before. Plus the sex was great, and he was funny and kind and an excellent doctor. He was perfect.

She had also come to the conclusion, that they were perfect together. She could spend the rest of her life with him.

"I think you're it Cooper," she mused aloud.

Cooper opened his eyes and quit feigning sleep. "What?" He asked while turning on his side to face her.

"You're it for me Coop. You're the one." Her green eyes stared out the window on the other side of the room, watching the stars thoughtfully.

"I'm the one?" He questioned. He wasn't sure if he was hearing her correctly. Charlotte King did not share her mushy intimate thoughts with others.

"The one I want to spend the rest of my life with. God, are you dense or somethin'?"

Cooper chuckled. Only Charlotte could manage to be sarcastic and loving at the same time. "I love you too."

"Good, 'cause I wanna get married soon and make this thing legit," Charlotte said as she turned onto her side and settled into sleep. "Don't you?"

"Did you just ask me to marry you," Cooper asked after a few moments.

She turned back to face him. "I guess I did, didn't I?" She said thoughtfully.

"You know, I'm supposed to ask you that."

"I'm a feminist. I like to shake things up." She paused and looked him directly in the eyes. "So you wanna marry me or not?"

Cooper couldn't look away from those intense green eyes. For once they weren't guarded or clouded with grief and pain. "Yes, Charlotte, I want to marry you."

"Good," she said as she got off the bed and headed towards the door.

"Where are you going," Cooper asked, puzzled by this action.

She gave him a mischievous grin. "I'm gonna get some whipped cream so we can celebrate."


	16. Roses, Rings and Strangers

**Chapter 15: Roses, Rings and Strangers**

The week was finally over and done with and Charlotte was thankful for that. So far she had found a school for Charlene (Rosewood Academy), gotten engaged and possibly made a friend. She had decided that Violet, formally known as the curly–haired nuisance, wasn't really so bad.

There was only one thing she was really worried about. Cooper's parents.

She was currently in Cooper's office admiring the engagement ring she had received from her fiancé yesterday. She was surprised when he came to her with a little blue box in his hand. She had tried not to grin like an idiot when he slipped it onto her finger, but she couldn't help it. She was just so ridiculously happy.

They, meaning she, had decided to wait on telling their, meaning Cooper's, friends. But of course Violet knew. They didn't tell her. Violet just looked at Cooper and knew. A part of her hated that the therapist could do that, but the other part didn't mind so much.

She gazed at the ring again and moved her hand so that the diamond sparkled in the light.

"You know, people are going to find out that you guys are engaged if you keep flaunting your ring like that," Violet said from behind her.

She startled, but said nothing. She was still caught up in the wonder of being engaged, of being part of a whole. Violet moved past her and sat in a chair facing her. When the therapist said nothing for a while she looked up, finally tearing her gaze away from her ring.

"What," she said with a smile on her lips.

Violet smiled back at her. "Nothing. It's just…I've never seen you this happy before."

"That's cause I've never been this happy before." She paused when she noticed Violet looking in the direction of Pete's office. "And how are you?"

"Pregnant and fat."

Charlotte chuckled. "You're not even showing yet. You just wait a few more months. Then you'll have something to complain about."

"Gee, you sure know how to cheer a girl up Charlotte."

.Charlotte grinned. "I have my talents.

Violet rolled her eyes.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You've met Cooper's parents right?"

"Yeah, lots of times. They're great," Violet confided. "They're coming tonight aren't they?"

Charlotte nodded.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. Just be yourself."

"Really?"

"Actually, don't be yourself. Be nicer than yourself and friendlier. No insults or sarcastic remarks and no criticizing."

Charlotte frowned, but said, "I guess I can try that."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte had finished for the day and was waiting for Cooper to come back with Charlene. He had taken the girl to some bookstore or other, without her permission. Not that he really needed it, but it would be nice to know when or where her daughter was disappearing off to.

She made her way back to Oceanside, deciding to wait for Cooper's return there. Oceanside was winding down for the day and the all the doctors were in their respective offices. She ventured over to Violet's office and found the therapist asleep on her couch with a hand resting on her stomach. After she wandered down to Pete's office and observed him unnoticed for a while.

"So that's it? You're not going to speak to Violet anymore?" She said from the doorway.

He jumped and dropped the pen he had been holding. It fell on his desk and rolled onto the floor, stopping at her feet.

"I don't think that's any of your business Charlotte."

She picked the pen and slapped it on his desk. "It is when she's staying at my house every other day. So why'd you leave her?"

"I don't have to answer you," he said stubbornly as he returned to his paperwork.

"Fine, but I'm just going to stay here till you do. I've got time." She smirked at Pete and took a seat across from him.

She started playing with her ring absentmindedly, as Pete tried to ignore her. Only a minute passed before Charlotte started to get annoyed. She didn't like being ignored, so she began to hum a little, hoping it would irritate him.

Pete sighed and looked up at her. He noticed that she was toying around with something that looked just like… "Is that an engagement ring?"

"Sure is." Guess the secret was out.

"Congratulations then."

"Thank you," she said without looking up from her ring. "So you gonna answer me? Why'd you leave her?"

He sighed. Charlotte was the last person he thought he would talk about this with. "It's complicated."

"Is that so?"

"Look, you wouldn't understand."

She laughed darkly. "I understand complicated. Complicated is what keeps me up at night"

"I just can't do it Charlotte. I don't know how to take care of her or how to make her happy. Half the time she shuts me out. And then there's the baby. I can't be a father. I don't even know how to be one."

She processed what he had said and then…"Oh, for god's sakes. Grow up!"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. Grow up. You got her pregnant, possibly, and now you have to deal with that. You understand that Violet and the baby are your responsibility now. You have to step up and be a man. You don' think she isn't scared either? She needs you Pete. She cares about you. There's still time to fix this."

He looked at her incredulously. "God you've changed."

"Yeah, guess I did," she agreed.

"I'll talk to her."

0oo0oo0

"This is fast," Addison said.

"Yeah well, there are always more kids than there are homes. We gotta act fast," the social worker told her while pushing more paperwork at her.

Addison nodded and peered over at the little girl sitting at her kitchen table. The little girl was named April. She had black hair, blue eyes and weighed a whooping thirty pounds and stood at just three feet tall.

"How old is she again?"

"Just turned four," the social worker replied as she glanced over at April. "She's very shy, so don't be disappointed if she doesn't talk to you for a while."

Addison smiled. "I'm sure we'll get along just fine."

0oo0oo0

Cooper watched his fiancée bustle around the house, making last minute adjustments as they waited for his parents to arrive. He could tell Charlotte was nervous, but she hadn't said a word to indicate otherwise. She was doing this for him because she was trying to show him how serious she was about this relationship.

He was impressed.

"Hey Char, where's the munchkin?"

"Puttin' her dress on."

He grinned at her. "You didn't have to make her wear a dress."

Charlotte looked up from the picture frame she was straightening and smiled. "But she looks so cute in it."

He watched her for a few more minutes before he decided that he couldn't take it anymore. Charlotte just wouldn't sit still. He made his way over to her and entwined his fingers with hers.

"Relax, they're going to love you.

"Sure," she scoffed. "And how many people like me over at St. Ambrose or even at Oceanside?"

So she wasn't exactly a social butterfly. "I like you and Violet likes you and so does Charlene."

"I must be popular," she muttered sarcastically.

"Exactly," he exclaimed, while placing an adorable kiss on her nose.

Charlotte rolled her eyes and went back to fiddling with the picture frames on the side table. Charlene came out of her room not long after wearing a yellow sundress. The little girl held out a matching yellow ribbon to Charlotte.

"Can you tie this for me?

Charlotte nodded and did ask asked while he wandered over to the front of the house and looked out the window. By some miracle he could see his parents' Toyota coming down the street.

"They're here! They're!" He yelled.

He saw Charlotte stiffen visibly. "It'll be fine," he murmured as she passed by him to open the door.

Charlotte and Charlene watched from the doorway as he ran out to greet his parents. His father was a tall sturdy man with graying dark hair. His mother had honey brown hair and kind brown eyes.

"Mom! Dad! It's so great to see you."

His mother grinned bashfully and pulled him into a hug. "I'm just glad you're finally settling down. This is such a nice house. Goodness, look at that backyard. Perfect for kids to play in."

"Better hurry up on those grandchildren," his father said jokingly behind him."

"I don't think you'll have to wait very long for that dad."

His parents gave him identical looks of confusion. He hadn't exactly told them about Charlene. Okay, he hadn't exactly told them about Charlotte. His parent's were probably confused. He had told them he had been dating a woman named Charlotte earlier in the year, but he had also told them that he had broken up with her about a month ago. He had neglected to tell them that he was back with Charlotte again.

"So are you ready to meet her?" Cooper asked his parents excitedly.

"Relax Cooper, she's like family to us already," his mother said.

He led them up the front steps a little confused about that statement. They had never met Charlotte before. They didn't know a thing about her, so how could they take such an instant liking to Charlotte. Maybe his parents were just that accepting.

He led them into the house where Charlotte had retreated with Charlene.

Charlotte straitened up in the presence of his parents and tried to smile sweetly. He walked over to her and put an arm around her waist. Before he could say anything his father frowned and said, "Who is this?"

"Charlotte, my fiancée."

"I don't understand," his mother said. "When you said you were getting married we thought it would be to Violet."

Charlotte stiffened in his arms. "Mom, no, Violet's my best friend."

"But you've been with her for so long," his father said a little sharply. "I don't just don't understand how you could chose this stranger over Violet."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte stood still as Cooper and his parents argued. She couldn't stand to hear his parents talk about her like that. They disapproved of his choice. They disapproved of her. They didn't like her.

_They don't want me in their family and my family doesn't want me either._

This was just too much for her. Anger and disappointment were swirling around in her stomach so strongly she thought she would puke or cry or possibly both. There's only so much rejection a grieving woman could take. She headed to the door, grabbed her purse and the keys that had been hanging on the hook and left.

She was going to give Violet a piece of her mind even if this wasn't really Violet's fault. The blame had to fall on someone.

0oo0oo0

Everything was falling apart for Cooper. Charlotte had just left and Charlene was now crying and his parents were still arguing with him.

"It should be Violet!"

"Did she just leave? Whose child is this? Why is she crying?"

"Where's Violet?"

He had enough. "Shut up! Both of you."

His parents stopped talking immediately and Charlene ran to her room. The little girl didn't like being left behind.

"How dare you! How dare you insult my fiancée like that! I can't believe my own parents could be so rude."

"Now son-."

He cut his father off. "That woman who just left, Charlotte, I love her and I'm going to marry her. She's been going through a hard time. Her father just died, her family is shunning her and she has a young daughter to take care of. Now I have to go take care of Charlene. Please show yourselves out and come back when you can act like polite human beings."

He walked out on his now stunned parents and went to find Charlene who was crying into her pillow.

"Hey, Charlie," he said softly.

"Do they not like us?" the little girl asked in a wavering voice.

"They were just a little surprised," he answered. "Don't worry about it." He sighed and stroked her silky yellow hair.

""Why did she leave me," Charlene whimpered.

"Oh honey, she didn't leave you, she just went to cool off."

"Yes she did! She left me again. She doesn't want me."

_Could this day get any better?_

0oo0oo0

"Turner! Open up! I gotta talk to you!" Charlotte banged on the door three more times before it opened.

"God Charlotte, you only have to knock once for me to hear you," Violet said as she peeked her head out.

"Let me in," she demanded.

"Uh…"

"Why won't you open the door all the way? What are you naked or somethin'?"

The therapist sighed and let Charlotte in. Violet wasn't naked, but she was good as. The therapist was wrapped in a grey silk bed sheet. Charlotte raised an eyebrow. Violet blushed and then led her to the living room.

"Pete came over to talk."

"I'm sure you did a lot of serious talkin' and discussin'."

"Well I-."

Charlotte dropped onto the couch. Her stomach didn't feel any better. "You are ruining my life Turner!"

"Because I slept with Pete?"

"No, because apparently you're supposed to marry Cooper."

"Excuse me?"

"When his parents came over they took one look at me and asked where you were. They want you to marry their son." She pointed an accusing finger at the therapist.

"You think this is my fault?"

"Yes! Well no, but I'm still angry with you."

"But I didn't do anything."

"I don't care. God Violet…how could they reject me," she said softly.

Violet took a seat next to her. "Hey, it'll be fine. Cooper will fix everything. It's just a misunderstanding. Shh, don't cry."

"I not crying," she said angrily.

"You are," Violet said quietly as she handed her a box of tissues.

She took a tissue and dabbed at her eyes. Guess she had been crying after all. By now the emotions swirling in her stomach had turned into a hurricane and she felt nauseous, really nauseous. She put hand over her mouth, headed to the nearest bathroom and puked.

0oo0oo

Violet could hear Charlotte retching from inside the bathroom. She tried to open the door, but found that it had been locked.

"Charlotte, open up!"

"What's going on?" Pete said from behind her. She jumped at the sound of his voice.

"It's Charlotte. She's…well she's pretty distressed right now and sick. Can you go prepare the guestroom? She'll be staying for the night."

Pete nodded, kissed her and then was off.

It felt so good to be talking to Pete again. She had been surprised when he showed up at her door, but she let him in because she had missed him. She forgot about being mad at him for leaving her that night. She forgot that she was supposed to hate him. She just couldn't. When she saw him on her doorsteps with a bouquet of roses in his hands she just melted.

She loved him. And that was that.


	17. 105

**Chapter 16: 105**

The sun was shining; the sky was a magnificent color of blue and Charlotte was standing on the front steps of her house looking pale and feverish. She had spent the better half of her stay at Violet's puking and she was ready to crawl into her own bed and sleep for a year. God, she was exhausted. She also wouldn't mind a good cuddle with her fiancé.

She hoped he wasn't too mad at her. She opened the door and crept in quietly. It was still pretty early in the morning, but she could hear the sounds of breakfast being made. The sounds stopped as soon as she shut the door.

"Char is that you?"

She didn't respond, but Cooper came rushing out to her. She lowered her eyes to the ground as he looked her over. She felt his cool hand press against her forehead.

"You're burning up."

"I'm fine," she said tiredly.

Cooper pulled her into an embrace. She hung onto him limply and shivered.

"God, you're shaking."

"Just a little cold."

"Come on, let's get you to bed." He scooped her up and cradled her in his arms before she could protest. She sighed in his arms and allowed him to carry her to their bedroom and place her gently on the bed.

"I'm sorry," she said as he pulled the covers over her.

"Don't be. It's not your fault. I'm the one who's sorry. I didn't know they would react like that. I sent them home. They'll be back next weekend…if you want them too."

They stayed silent for a moment and then…

"Coop?"

"Yeah?"

"I gotta puke."

0oo0oo0

Addison groaned and rolled over in her bed to check her bedside clock. She jumped when turned and saw April staring at her.

"Oh, god! April you scared me."

The little girl said nothing, just stared at her with her big blue eyes. Addison stretched and then sat on the edge of her bed and stared back at April.

"Come on, let's go get you some breakfast. Are you hungry?"

Again no response.

They made their way into the kitchen and Addison decided then to make chocolate chip pancakes. She gathered the ingredients together and began cooking.

"So I think we'll go to the park today," she began. "They have lots of fun slides and swings and even a sandbox."

Again the girl said nothing. Addison finished making the pancakes and they ate in silence. To be honest the little girl's silence kind of unnerved her. Kids should be laughing and playing and making lots of noise. She hoped April would warm up to her sooner or later.

As she cleared the plates, April disappeared into the living room. When the mess was all put away she found the little girl just staring out the window. She figured now was probably a good time to go to the park. She made her way towards April and rested a hand on the little girl's shoulder.

April screamed as soon as her hand made contact. The little girl whipped around and backed up into the wall.

"Oh April, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you." She kneeled down and held out her arms. "Shh, shh, I'm sorry. Come here."

April approached her slowly, like a frightened animal.

"Come on sweetie. I won't hurt you."

Once April was safely tucked into her arms she brought them both to the rocking armchair she had bought years ago, when she first thought about having children. They rocked back and forth until April was sound asleep.

"I guess the park can wait another day."

0oo0oo0

Pete was watching Violet sleep. Charlotte had left hours ago without so much as a word of goodbye. How Violet and Charlotte ended up being friends, he'll never know. In a way he was kind of glad there was someone besides Cooper who could look after Violet. He liked Cooper, but he just didn't like how close the pediatrician was to _his _Violet.

Violet stirred in her sleep and then cuddled closer to him. He sighed contentedly and put his arm around her.

He was an idiot to leave her that day.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. She had already forgiven him, but still… "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

0oo0oo0

Sam had a patient that wasn't going to get better. He knew it. His patient knew it. Life just sucked. He sighed and crossed his arms. Though he was sitting in front of his computer he knew that he wouldn't be able to get any work.

"Hey, what's wrong?" He looked up to see Naomi standing at the doorway. She came towards him wearing a concerned expression on her face.

"Patient problems," he said.

"Anything I can do to help?"

He shook his head no.

She gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze and then took a seat on the other side of his desk. "You know, we haven't talked in a while," she told him.

"Yeah, we haven't," he agreed.

She smiled. "So let's talk then."

0oo0oo0

Night was falling and Cooper was on the phone talking to Violet. Actually he wasn't doing any talking, Violet was chatting his head off with details about Pete. They were back on again and that was great, but he really didn't need to know everything that happened. He didn't really want to know how hot Pete was. This is one of those times were he wished she had female friends to talk to.

"How's Charlotte doing," Violet asked out of the blue. This threw him off guard. He hadn't really been paying attention for the last couple of minutes.

"What? Oh, she's still feeling pretty bad. Hold on, Vi, I'm going to go check on her."

"Okay."

He set the phone down and crept up to the door of their room. Charlotte had been sleeping most of the day. The other parts she spent throwing up. He was beginning to get really worried about her.

He opened the door quietly and peered in. Charlotte was tossing and turning on the bed. The comforter had been kicked off, but the bed sheet was twisted around her legs and torso. She struggled against the sheet until he came and unwrapped it from her body. She opened her eyes and looked at him like she didn't recognize him.

"Charlotte?"

She mumbled something about Big Daddy , but when he listened closely he realized that she was actually talking to Big Daddy, or trying to at least.

"You're delirious." He put a hand on her forehead and pulled it back quickly. God, she was burning up. He took her temperature after that with some difficulty. She kept pushing the thermometer away. When the thermometer beeped, signaling that it had done its job, it read 105˚F.

"Shit. Come on, we gotta get you to the hospital."

Violet came over to watch Charlene five minutes later. His friend looked down at his fiancée worriedly and told her to get well. After saying goodbye, he rushed out to his car.

He laid her in the backseat and she slept the entire ride there. He first thought was that Charlotte had a bad case of the flu, but he couldn't be too sure. He rushed through a few red lights and past a stop sign as he called Addison. He knew Charlotte. She would definitely not want her employees to see her like this and Addison was the only other doctor that Charlotte would ever let treat her.

They skipped the emergency room (one of the perks of being Chief of Staff) and put her in an empty private room.

0oo0oo0

"Okay, let's see what we have here," Addison said while walking into the room. She was followed by April who was clinging onto her lab coat. She couldn't leave the little girl home alone, but she also couldn't find anyone to watch her. April was even more skittish around strangers and when she tried to leave her with Sam the little girl started crying. So she brought April with her.

Charlotte looked so small and pale on the bed. This was not the feisty little blonde she was used to. After a thorough examination and asking a few questions Addison came to a conclusion.

"It looks like the flu to me, but I'm going to take some blood just to be on the safe side."

A nurse came in shortly with the supplies she needed, but before she could do anything Cooper leaned in and whispered, "She doesn't like needles."

She couldn't help the smile that spread on her lips. The idea of Charlotte King being afraid of anything was laughable.

"It's true," he assured her.

She nodded and then looked down at April. "Do you think…?"

"No problem," Cooper replied. He leaned down to talk to April and after a few moments he got April to go with him to get some ice cream.

_The man is a child whisperer._

She turned back to Charlotte who was lucid at the moment, and watching her warily.

"I'm going to have to draw some blood," she told the blonde. Charlotte did nothing just stared at her, but she could tell that the blonde was not happy with her.

She put on a fresh pair of gloves and waited for Charlotte to offer her an arm. Charlotte stared her down and stubbornly refused to give her an arm. She sighed and reached for the blonde's arm herself.

"You know," she said as she adjusted the tourniquet and swabbed the area with an alcohol prep pad, "You are a terrible patient."

Next came the needle.

Charlotte hissed. "Damn you Montgomery."

Addison smiled. This was the Charlotte she remembered. "Didn't know you were such a baby Charlotte."

Charlotte glared at her.

"I'll go send this to the lab and go get Cooper. You just rest."


	18. Congratulations

**Chapter 17: Congratulations **

Charlotte's fever had gone down significantly thanks to the help of Addison, but a bit of her illness still clung to her. They were waiting for the lab results, which at any rate could take all day, maybe all week.

Cooper was still with her, napping in the chair by her bedside. Addison flitted in and out of her room as they waited for the lab results. She wanted tell Montgomery to stop, because all the movement was making her queasy, but she decided it wasn't worth the effort.

She sighed and turned over in her bed so that she was facing her sleeping fiancé. She briefly wondered who was keeping an eye on her daughter. She wasn't particularly worried. Cooper had probably taken care of it.

Another hour passed and she was beginning to grow a little more than impatient.

"Could this take any longer?"

Cooper startled at the sound of her voice and darted his eyes around the room before resting on her. "Huh?"

"Nothing." She flopped back down on the hospital bed and stared at the ceiling.

"So Addison…?"

"No."

"Okay then."

"Could you get me something to drink? Please."

He nodded wordlessly and made his exit. It was only moment later when Addison returned once again, but this time with a paper clutched in her manicured hands.

"Took you long enough," she said bitterly.

Addison smiled. "I see you're feeling better."  
"It was just a cold."

"Right." The redhead walked to the front of the bed and continued to look at her with a somewhat secretive smile on her face. Charlotte was feeling a little suspicious now.

"You gonna tell me or what?"

"I think you should wait for Cooper."

"I think you should just tell me. This is my hospital Montgomery."

"Uh huh, sure. Maybe I just won't show it to you," the redhead teased.

She was quickly tiring of this game. "Why should I wait for Cooper again?"

"You'll see."

"Montgomery," she growled. "If you don't tell me I'll just run down to the lab myself. Do you want me to do that? 'Cause I swear I will." She was about to continue on, but the redhead put up a hand signaling that she was finally relenting.

"You're pregnant!"

"I'm what?"

"You're having a baby. Those small humans I deliver? Ringing any bells?"

She glared at Addison and the redhead quieted immediately. "I'm pregnant?"

Addison nodded.

She took a breath and tried to relax. This was definitely not what she was expecting. But it also wasn't bad news. She was having a baby, Cooper's baby, and this time she would get to experience everything she missed with Charlene. Cooper would be ecstatic. There isn't anything that would make him happier. There was one problem though, the wedding. As clichéd as it was she had wanted a spring wedding.

"I'm going to have to move the wedding to an earlier date now," she said aloud.

"Wedding? What wedding," Addison asked curiously.

She had forgotten she hadn't told anyone about their engagement yet and Pete must have kept his mouth shut.

She might as well just tell Addison. "Me and Cooper, we're engaged." She held out her hand and showed off her ring. There wasn't anything she could do to stop herself from smiling. She couldn't help herself. She just didn't know how she had gotten so lucky.

"Oh. My. God. Charlotte!" The redhead exclaimed. "When were you going to tell me?! When did he propose?"

"Actually I proposed."

Addison looked up from examining her ring and chuckled. "That sounds like something you would do. So tell me about it. What did you do? What did you say?" The redhead looked at her expectantly. She was feeling a little out of her element. They had never been close or even friends and she wasn't so great at socializing.

"Well we had been talking about it, um...getting married, before he moved in and I just realized that this was the man who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and then I asked him. Just like that.

"Aww, Charlotte," the redhead said while hugging her enthusiastically. "I'm so happy for you."

"I can tell. You're crushing me."

"Sorry, sorry," Addison said while letting her go.

"Could you not tell Cooper? I kinda want to surprise him," she said almost shyly. She didn't like asking for favors.

"No problem. Let's just set up a date for an appointment and I'll send you on your way."

"Appointment?"

"You're my patient now. Don't worry I'll take good care of you."

0oo0oo0

"I don't think she loves me anymore," Charlie said. She meant it to. Her momma never paid attention to her anymore and she left yesterday without even saying goodbye. Charlotte didn't even say hello to her when she got back earlier today.

"That's not true," Violet said from the couch. Cooper's friend had been put in charge of watching her. "She's just going through a rough time."

"No, she doesn't love me," she said again. Charlie returned to the book Violet had brought over with her.

"Charlene, she loves you."

"How can you tell?"

Violet put a hand on her belly and smiled softly, "You don't stop loving your child Charlene. Trust me."

Charlie thought the Violet must be right. She was after all having a child of her own and she was a psychologist. She knew things.

"Okay." She closed her book and joined Violet on the couch. "When will they come home?"

"Soon," Violet soothed.

"Is she really sick?" Charlie asked. "Is she going to, to…" _Die?_

"Oh no, honey. It's just the flu."

Charlie nodded and allowed Violet to wrap an arm around her.

"You should go to bed. It's getting late."

"No, I wanna wait up for them."

It was midnight when she heard a car pull into the driveway. She raced excitedly to the door with Violet trailing behind her. Cooper walked towards her supporting her momma. When they made it through the threshold she threw herself at Charlotte.

"Are you okay momma?"

Charlotte smiled softly at her. "I'm fine. It was only the flu."

She hugged Charlotte even harder. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, sweetie, I'm sure. You know it's awfully late. Let's get you to bed." They walked hand in hand to her bedroom while Cooper thanked Violet for watching her. She put on her pajamas, yawned and then crawled into her bed. She hadn't noticed how tired she was before.

Charlotte crawled into bed beside her and told her to scoot over.

"I'll stay till you fall asleep. We haven't spent much time together this week."

"No we haven't," she said almost angrily.

Charlotte noticed this. "I'm sorry."

Charlie moved closer to her momma until her head rested on Charlotte's chest. "You still love me, right?"

"Don't be so ridiculous, of course I still love you. You're my daughter. I'll always love you no matter what." Charlotte kissed her on the forehead and she smiled.

0oo0oo0

Cooper was rinsing his toothbrush when his fiancée walked into the bathroom. She was dressed and ready for the day. She was always ready.

"Morning future wife." He grinned. "How are you feeling?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Little nauseous, but still much better than yesterday." She walked up to him and leaned against the sink. "So, I was wondering…who's going to be your best man?"

He was a little surprised that she was already talking about the wedding. He thought for sure she would either avoid the topic completely or at least hire a wedding planner to deal with it for her.

He set his toothbrush down. "Uh, I was thinking…Violet."

"Violet's not a man."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "As far as you know."

Charlotte let out a snort of laughter and tried not to smile.

He grinned at her. "I'm funny I know."

"Shut up."

He watched her laugh silently for a while until he noticed something. She looked different…like she was glowing or something.

"She can't be your best man Coop."

"Why not?"

"She's going to be my maid of honor."

"Is she now? Because I remember her being my best friend for some ten odd years now. Don't you have any friends?"

She lowered her gaze to the floor suddenly interested in the bathroom tile. He hadn't meant to upset her. Everyone has friends right? At least that's what he thought.

"You don't have any?"

"Never got around to makin' any and I'm not that friendly."

He reached out and pulled her into a hug. "Alright, you can have her."

Charlotte pulled away from him and smiled. "Thank you. Now we better get married soon 'cause I will not have a fat maid of honor in my wedding."

"Charlotte," he chided.

0oo0oo0

The weekend was over and Charlotte had managed to keep her pregnancy a secret. She was going to surprise Cooper sometime this week. She just didn't know how to do it. It had be…special. She leaned back in her chair and put a hand on her belly.

She closed her eyes for a bit and tried to pretend that she was still back in her warm, cozy bed and not in her cold office at Oceanside. She was kind of pissed that she couldn't have her morning caffeine kick and she really needed it this morning. Charlene had been very reluctant to go to her first day of school today and the little girl was furious when she found out that she wouldn't be able to drive her there herself.  
She felt bad about not being there for Charlene, but she had a hospital to run and a practice to direct. She would make it up to her by taking her for some ice cream after.

She was about to drift off when she felt a presence in the room. Her eyes snapped open to see Sheldon standing in front of her desk. He was staring at the hand that was rubbing her belly. Coincidently it was also the hand that had the engagement ring on it. She removed her hand immediately.

"Was there something you wanted?" She noticed he was holding a Starbucks cup in his hands.

"Well, there has been talk about you and Cooper being engaged. I just want to congratulate you and I was going to give you this coffee, but now I'm thinking that that's not such a good idea."

She offered him a tired smile. "It was a nice sentiment anyway. I'd appreciate it if you kept that piece of information to yourself. I'm gonna surprise Cooper."

Sheldon nodded and began to walk away, but then stopped. "You're doing good, aren't you?"

She nodded. "I'm in a good place right now."

Later in the day she made her way to Violet's office. Her intention was to inform the therapist that she would be her maid of honor. She was hoping she would be able to do it without throwing up. There was a strange scent coming out of Pete's office that was just making her stomach churn.

Violet looked up from her desk when she walked in.

"I have somethin' to tell you," she announced.

"Okay?"

"I want you to be my maid of honor."

Violet looked surprised. "Really?"

She nodded. "So do you want to do it or not?"

"I-I would be honored. Yeah, I'll do it." Violet paused and then added. "You better not pick out an ugly dress for me."

"You'd probably look good in neon pick. I can just picture it," she joked.

"You are evil."

She was about to agree with the therapist, but the queasy feeling she had before had intensified. She was lucky she made it to the trash. Violet was behind her in an instant holding her hair back. When she was finished the therapist handed her a bottle of water and a stick of spearmint gum.

"You're still sick," Violet asked her as she drank the water. "I thought it was just the flu. You shouldn't be throwing up still."

She unwrapped the piece of gum and stuck it in her mouth.

Violet raised an eyebrow. "Unless…"

"I should probably get going now. I have a hospital to run and all." How was everyone figuring this out?

Violet grinned at her. "You're pregnant aren't you?"

"How is everyone figuring this out? I didn't even say anything."

Violet ignored her question and pulled her into a happy hug. "Congratulations. I'm going to be an aunt. Hey, our kids are going to grow up together."

_Well now that everyone else knows I better tell Cooper and Charlene quick._

0oo0oo0

Charlie was waiting in front of her new school for her momma. She was not having a good day. Everyone thought she was a know-it-all and they all made fun of her accent. If she wasn't such a lady she would have decked a few kids today. She just wanted to go home and spend time with her momma and Cooper.

Charlotte's hybrid pulled up to the curve and she hopped into the car.

"Did you have a good day?" Charlotte asked.

She shrugged her shoulders. She was still mad that Charlotte hadn't driven her to school this morning.

"Did you make any friends?"

"No."

"I'm sure you'll make some soon."

"Right."

"Listen Charlie, I gotta tell you something."

"Is it something bad?"

"No sweetie it's not. It's good news. You're going to have a little brother or sister soon."

That was too much for Charlene, too much to handle in one day. She just got her momma. Now she had to share her with a baby. She would probably love the baby more than her and spend all her time with it. After all she was just a mistake.

She burst out in tears. She wished Big Daddy was still alive. She wished she could just go back to Alabama. She wished everything could be the way it was again.

"Charlene," Charlotte said alarmed. "What's wrong?"

"I wanna go home!" She wailed.

"We are going home," Charlotte said perplexed.

"No, I wanna go home to Alabama. I want Big Daddy!"

"Come here." Charlie allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. "I know it's hard being in a new place, living in a new home, going to a new school. It's going to take some time for you to start feeling better."

"Will you love me as much as you love the new baby?" She asked. She knew how silly she sounded, but her momma had given her away once already.

Charlotte placed a kiss on her head and murmured, "Of course I will."


	19. Take Two

**Between Silent Night and this story I got 31 reviews asking me to update soon. The readers have spoken and I have heard and since it's the holidays I whipped this chapter up. Thank you for reading and Happy New Year! **

**Chapter Eighteen: Take Two**

Addison was sitting in a chair that was three times to small, sipping tea out of an obnoxiously pink teacup and having a blast. April was finally opening up to her and they were having fun playing with all the toys Addison had bought the little girl.

She picked up the plastic tiara that had fallen to the floor and handed it back to April. The little girl put it back on her head and grinned at her.

This was the good life.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was pacing back and forth in the bedroom she shared with Cooper while Violet watched from the bed. As promised Cooper's parents had come back to town to pay them a visit. Charlene expressed her wishes not to meet the freedmans, which was why Violet was there. She got the feeling that her daughter was still angry at the freedman's last visit. She was proud of her daughter's loyalty.

She was nervous as hell about meeting his parents again. She was hoping to god that everything would run smoothly this time. They would be dinning at a restaurant that had just opened up this month. It was Mexican and she was thankful that it was because she was having the worst craving for enchiladas.

Besides the visit she still hadn't told Cooper about her pregnancy. The perfect time just hadn't come up yet and she felt bad because nearly everyone knew except him.

"Would you stop worrying," Violet said from the bed. "They're going to love you, especially since you're carrying their grandchild."

She scoffed. "Easy for you to say, you're already part of the family," she mimicked.

Violet frowned, but otherwise said nothing.

She sighed. "Sorry, I'm just nervous."

"It's okay."

"You know," Charlotte said while trying to decide which shoes to wear. "This being friends thing isn't so bad."

"Having friends is usually enjoyable," Violet answered, unable to keep the smile off her face.

"Don't make fun of me," she warned.

Violet put her hands up in surrender. "I'm not. Try the beige ones," the therapist said pointing to the pair of heels on her left.

She nodded and tried them on. They went perfect with her cream dress patterned with scarlet pimpernels. "God, I hope I don't puke tonight."

Violet chuckled. "The joys of pregnancy."

"I don't remember getting this sick with Charlene."

"This one must be a boy then."

Charlotte laughed this time. "I'm worried about Charlene," she said suddenly.

"Don't worry. I'll take good care of her."

"No, it's more than that. She's having a hard time fitting in at school and her reaction to my pregnancy wasn't great."

"Give her time. She's still grieving and adjusting."

Charlotte gave herself a once over in the mirror before deciding that she was ready. Cooper would be coming from work and she would meet him there. After saying goodbye to her daughter and Violet she left for the restaurant.

0oo0oo0

Cooper breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Charlotte walking towards the table. He was glad that she got here before his parents. She took a seat next to him and then leaned over and gave him a kiss. He smiled back at her and then pulled her back for another kiss.

"Alright that's enough," she whispered to him. "Your parents will see."

"You're my fiancée. I don't think that will bother them," he whispered back. She said nothing back to him and kept her gaze on the entrance of the restaurant. His slipped his hand under the table and held hers. She was nervous for once. She was usually so cool and collected.

"Stop freaking out."

"I'm not freaking out," she said. "Look, here they come."

He stood up for his parents, hugged them and hoped they wouldn't insult Charlotte in any way tonight.

"Where's Charlene," his mother asked. He was secretly glad that she remembered the little girl's name.

"Ah, she's at home mom. You can meet her later." He looked at Charlotte and she nodded in conformation.

Once they were all seated his father began to talk.

"I apologize for the way we treated you last time, Charlotte. It's just that the last time we heard about you he said you two were broken up. He didn't say anything about you two getting back together so, we just assumed."

"I understand," Charlotte said curtly. And that was that.

"So I heard that you're Chief of Staff at St. Ambrose and Director of Pacific Wellcare."

Charlotte beamed next to him. This was going well.

0oo0oo0

Violet opened the door to see Pete standing on the front steps of Charlotte's house. He gave her a devilish grin.

"I'm supposed to be babysitting," she told him.

He walked through the door and drew her in for a kiss. "I know."

They heard footsteps and turned to see Charlene.

Charlene gave them an evil smile that reminded them exactly of Charlotte's. "You know, I'm going to have to tell momma about this."

"She's not serious right," he whispered to her.

No. I mean, I don't think so," she whispered back. She untangled herself from Pete's embrace and brought them all to the living room.

"You remember Pete, don't you Charlene?"

The little girl nodded.

"Good. Why don't we play a game," Pete suggested.

Charlene shook her head no. "If you don't mind, I'd like to be left alone."

"Should we be worried," Pete asked her.

"She'll be fine."

0oo0oo0

Charlie locked the door behind her and listened to Violet and Pete talk for a moment before returning to her desk. She opened her laptop and brought up the window she had been looking at earlier. Charlotte's credit card was lying next to her arm on the desk.

She scrolled down the page and checked the travel times again. She was going to take a plane back to Alabama. She was going home again. She knew when she wasn't wanted and besides, she wasn't happy here even with her momma.

She sighed. The next available flight out was two weeks from today. It would have to do.

0oo0oo0

Everything was going perfectly for Charlotte until the waiter came to take their order. Mr. Freedman insisted on ordering a very nice bottle of champagne for the happy couple. It was an apology of sorts and also one she couldn't enjoy. She was trying to find a nice way of rejecting the champagne, but kept coming up with blanks.

They ordered their food and the champagne came out only moments later. The cork was popped and the waiter began to pour. When he came to her seat she put her hand over her glass and politely declined.

"What's the matter," Mr. Freedman asked. "You don't like champagne?"

"No, I like it. I just…"

Beside her Cooper nudged her with his elbow. "Just drink it Charlotte," he whispered. "This stuff is expensive."

"I can't," she whispered back.

"Should we order something else?" Mrs. Freedman asked.

"No, it's fine."

"Charlotte," Cooper hissed.

"I can't," she said with a little irritated.

He frowned. "Well, why not?"

"I just can't."

"Why not," he said loudly instead of whispering.

Now, she was getting annoyed. He was making this a bigger deal than it had to be.

She stood up angrily and glared at him. "I can't because I'm pregnant!"

The entire restaurant had gone silent. Cooper was looking at her with wide eyes and his parents didn't know how to react.

"You're pregnant?" Cooper said disbelievingly.

She nodded. "Oh Char, that's great!" He hugged her and then picked her up and spun her around once. He turned back to his parents who were sitting there with a stunned expression on their faces. "I'm going to be a dad," he told them excitedly. "You're going to be grandparents!"

He beamed at her and pulled her to him once again. He tucked her head under her chin and just held her.

"This is going to be great," he told her.

When they finally sat back down and got settled again, the food came.

"The wedding will have to be soon then," his mother commented.

"Yes, it will," she agreed. "I'd like to be walking done the aisle before I start showing."

"As soon as possible then," Cooper said beside her.

There was a pause in the conversation so that the food ordered could actually be consumed.

"How about in two weeks," Charlotte said suddenly. "None of my family is going to be there and Cooper's friends are mine, so the guest list will be easy and we can hire a wedding planner to do the rest. Two weeks is plenty of time to put together a decent wedding."

"Are you sure?" Cooper asked her.

"Yes," she said confidently. "I just know that I want to be your wife."

"Alright," Cooper said. "Then let's do this."


	20. Almost There

**A/N: I'm a slow updater. Sorry. This story will be finished. I promise you that. There's only a few chapters left before the end for this story, so I'll be thinking of new stories to write for Private Practice. Not sure what couple I'll do. It might be another Charlotte/Cooper story or maybe something else. I'm not sure. Also, I'm going to give you guys a chance to determine the sex of Charlotte's soon to be baby. Just go to my profile and vote. Enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading. **

**Chapter 19: Almost There**

"Come on out Charlotte," Addison said to her.

"If you don't come out we're going to come in," Naomi added.

"You will not," she protested. She tugged at the dress again. She hadn't wanted to go shopping with the Oceanside women, but Cooper said it would be bad luck if he saw her in her wedding dress before the actual wedding. So here she was, running all over LA to find the perfect dress with Violet, Addison and Naomi.

The wedding was a week away and they were all working very hard to put things together. She had hired two wedding planners to handle a great majority of the work. Cooper wanted the wedding to be perfect for her. He wanted her to have a big fairy tale wedding, but to be honest she wouldn't care if they got married in Vegas just as long as she got to marry the man of her dreams.

She picked up the veil and put it on. She stared at herself in the mirror and couldn't believe it was actually herself. What did she do to deserve all of this? She was just lucky. She was more than lucky.

She ran her hand over the beadwork on the bodice of her gown. Everything was going to be perfect…perfect except for the fact that her father wouldn't be there to walk her down the aisle and her brothers and momma wouldn't be there at all.

"Come on Charlotte," she heard Violet call to her softly. "It'll be okay."

She took a deep breath and opened the door to the changing room. Everyone was silent as she made her way to the tri-fold mirror and stepped up on the red velvet circle. She watched their reflections in the mirror.

"What do you think?" She asked.

"It's perfect," Violet said behind her.

0oo0oo0

Cooper made sure Charlene was occupied with a book before grabbing the house phone and locking the door to the bedroom. The wedding was a week away and Charlotte's family still hadn't responded to the secret invitation he had sent them. Charlotte had told him not to bother with them, but he knew that she wanted them to be there.

He dialed her mother's number first and got nothing. Next he tried Landry's number. His wife picked up.

"Hello, Mrs. King, this is Dr. Freedman. I'd like to talk to your husband please."

"Is something wrong?"

He realized that she thought he was her husband's doctor. She probably didn't know who her sister-in-law was marrying.

"Nothing's wrong. I just have to…reschedule his appointment for next week."

"Oh, thank heavens. Let me just get him."

He waited a few seconds and then another voice spoke. "I'm sorry, but I don't have an appointment scheduled for next week and you're not my doctor."

"No, I'm not. You know your sister's getting married next week?"

There was silence on the other end.

"Well, she's getting married and I think she'd really like it if she had her family there to support her."

"She betrayed us."

"By doing what? By making a mistake when she was young? By having a daughter that your father loved and took care of? Or are you really that shallow and only care about the money." He tried to control himself, but the anger seeped through his speech. "You know if it were the other way around Charlotte wouldn't have cared. She wouldn't have acted like you."

"You don't know my sister," Landry growled.

"I know her better than you do." He took a breath before speaking again. "You have a little niece, you know. One who would be thrilled to know that she had uncles and aunts and cousins that cared about her. She's just a kid. The least you could do is talk to her."

"I'll think about it. Now, I have to go."

Cooper put the phone down and walked over to where Charlene was. The little girl was reading a book a usual. He took the book from her and closed it.

"Let's go have some fun munchkin. Beach and ice cream sound good?"

"Actually, you have a tux fitting in an hour. Violet told me to remind you."

"Right. We can go after?"

"Sounds good Coop."

He ruffled her hair and returned the book back to the little girl. She was so cute.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte sat back in her chair, enjoying her fruit smoothie and rubbing her soon to be swollen belly. After dress shopping all day this was just pure bliss.

"Well, you didn't pick terrible bridesmaids dresses," Addison said before sipping her martini.

"I'm not evil," she said with her eyes still closed. She had a feeling that the Oceanside women disagreed with her. She hadn't exactly been nice or even civil to them in the past, so they had good reason not to like her.

"Of course not," Naomi said surprising her. She opened her eyes and peered at each woman. They gave her warm looks of reassurance.

Addison chuckled, "Don't look so surprised. You're a good person Charlotte and a great doctor too."

She felt her cheeks go warm at the compliment. "Ah…thanks Montgomery." She didn't really know what else to say. She wasn't good at receiving compliments, mostly because she was used to the snide comments and name calling behind her back that had developed during her rise to Chief of Staff. "And thanks for letting April be the flower girl. I would have gotten one of my nieces to do it but…" She let the thought go and gazed out into the distance, her good mood effectively ruined.

She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder reassuringly. It was Violet. She wished she could hate them, her brothers and her Momma, but somehow she couldn't. What was it about her family that made her feel obligated to keep loving them, even when they continually treated her like crap? She would love them, but she wouldn't forgive them for calling her child a bastard and for shunning the both of them. If Big Daddy were here he would have knocked some sense into her brothers, figuratively and literally.

"He won't even be here to walk me done the isle," she aloud without really meaning too. "Not that it matters," she added quickly.

"It does matter," Violet said next to her. "You'll be okay."

"Hey, cheer up," Addison said. "You're getting married and you have a bun in the oven. Life is good."

"Life is good," she agreed. She gave her belly a pat and smiled. She needed to shift the conversation to something happier. Dwelling on all the negative things was pointless. She couldn't resolve any of those issues anyway. "I can't wait to find out the sex of the baby. I think it's going to be a boy, but Cooper thinks it's going to be a girl."

"Are you hoping for a boy?" Naomi asked.

"Maybe. I don't know. I'll be happy just as long as the baby's healthy."

They spoke a little more about the babies, her's and Violet's, before Cooper and Charlene made an appearance.

He leaned down to give her a kiss and she kept him there a little longer. He grinned at her when they broke away. He took a seat next to her and started chatting with Violet.

Charlene was waiting patiently beside her waiting for her chance to say hello.

Charlotte pulled the little girl in for a hug. Charlene's arms tightened around her and she felt the little girl grow heavy on her. It was a little while before Charlene let go.

"Are you okay," She asked.

Charlene smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm fine," the little girl insisted.

"Okay. Are you hungry?"

"No, Cooper bought me ice cream."

"He did?" She said giving Cooper a look. "And right before lunch too."

Cooper smiled sheepishly at her and shrugged. "Do you want to go for a walk?" He asked her, hoping she might forget about his little mishap if he changed the subject.

She stood up and reached for his hand. "Yes, but you're still not off the hook." She turned in Violet's direction. She was about to ask the therapist to watch the kid, but Violet nodded her answer before she could verbalize her request.

0oo0oo0

Cooper grabbed Charlotte's hand and tried to pull her into the water. There walk had lasted all of five minutes. Cooper couldn't resist playing in the gorgeous clear water.

"Come on Char," he whined.

"My feet will get wet," she grumbled.

"Who knew water could do that to you," he teased.

She gave him a sharp look before sitting down in the sand. He sighed and joined her.

"I can't wait to be married to you," he said earnestly.

"Ditto," She said with a smile.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did."

"No I mean…well I wanted to ask you…um you know after the wedding we'll be married…"

She chuckled, "Really? I had no idea."

He nudged her with his shoulder. "Stop that. I wanted to ask if you would let me adopt Charlene."

She paused and looked at him with something akin to wonder.

"You don't have too," he added quickly "I mean if you're not comfortable with that, then that's fine. I think…I think I could be a good dad to her."

"I think so too."

His face lit up at this. "Really?!"

She nodded and he knocked her back in the sand and smothered her with kisses. He nipped along her graceful neck and she let out a breathy sigh. He loved her so much. It was almost too much to bear every day. She raked her nails down his back and he let his hand brush down her shirt to cup her breast through the fabric.

"Cooper, Cooper," Charlotte said before she forgot how to form sentences. "We're on a public beach."

He paused at the hollow of her neck and felt the rise and fall of her chest beneath him. "Oh, yeah."

"Do you want to go home," she whispered in his ear. "Have ourselves an early honeymoon?"

0oo0oo0

Violet laughed when she got the text from her friend asking her to watch Charlene while they got a head start on their honey moon. She was happy for Cooper. He had finally got someone.

To think there was a time when she had wanted to have sex with Cooper. She cringed. So wrong. How could she have thought that was a good idea? She brushed that thought aside and looked at her friends. They all seemed happy, which truly was a miracle for anyone who worked at Oceanside.

Cooper and Charlotte's wedding was just the start of all the good things to come. She hoped that maybe, if she played her cards right, a wedding might be in her future. She had never been an optimist, but all of Pete's behavior pointed towards commitment.

Maybe she would get her happily ever after.

0oo0oo0

Cooper had his arm around Charlotte, who was resting comfortably on his chest. He let out a sigh of contentment and then reached down to pull the sheet over them.

"Mmm, this is good," Charlotte purred.

"Mmm hmm," he said in a way of an answer.

He watched her close eyes and settle into a peaceful sleep. He was going to make sure she had a perfect wedding, no matter what it took.


End file.
